The Oologist. 



VOL. XV. NO. G. 



ALBION, N. Y., JUNE, 1898. 



Whole No. 14 



A Collecting- Trip in California. 



For a long time I had been trying to 

 fiad the principal nesting place or places 

 of the myriads of Hummingbirds seen 

 in the valley during the rainy season. 

 At last I hat" found it, and here I was 

 with my ftet turned toward a small pass 

 through the foot-hills, known locally 

 as Brea Canon. 



The day was all that could be desired 

 a perfect ''day in June." High over- 

 head in the cloudless blue soared a sin- 

 gle Vulture, mute witness to the end of 

 all things. From every fence-post a 

 Meadowlark poured forth his bubbling 

 song, while from every hillside num- 

 bers of Western Lark Sparrows rose in 

 small coveys. Here and there a Bur- 

 rowing Owl regarded me with great, 

 round eyes from the doorway of his 

 subterranean home. Road-runners and 

 Towhees now and again appeared at 

 the border of some dense thicket or 

 clump of cacti. All the world was alive 

 and making the most of that life while 

 the cool hours of the morning re- 

 mained. 



Bat I must hurry over the events of 

 my trip, only stopping to notice the 

 taking of three eggs of the California 

 Thrasher [Harporhynclms redivivus]. 

 I considered this remarkable only in 

 that the eggs were fresh and the date 

 rather late for this species. The nest 

 as usual was merely a platform of 

 sticks and the eggs a beautiful pea- 

 green spotted with brown. 



At last, about eight o'clock, I arrived 

 at a place which to my mind seemed to 

 be the home of every Hummingbird in 

 Southern California. The brushy sides 

 of the canon formed excellent nesting 

 sites for the Towhees, Thrashers and 

 Western Yellow-throats; from an old 



sheep "corral" came the musical call of 

 the Valley Quaii; but down where the 

 little stream wandered along among 

 tall willows and knotty oaks there were 

 the Hummingbirds. 



From under a leflge of rock darted a 

 Black Phoebe ( Sayornis nigricayis). 

 Soon her tiny nest, placed so snugly 

 under the sheltering rock, was found, 

 and the five slightly incubated eggs, 

 pure white in color, packed safely 

 away in my box. Glancing upward I 

 saw not ten feet above me a nest, from 

 which only the tail of the parent bird 

 could be seen. A few minutes' climb 

 revealed to me a female of Cassin's 

 Purple Finch [Carpodacus cassini). 

 This nest contained four badly incubat- 

 ed eggs, but as they were my tirst set 

 of this species I took them together 

 with the nest. 



Sitting down under the spreading 

 branches of a live oak 1 heard the pe- 

 culiar note of a California Bush-tit. 

 Long and diligently I searched and at 

 last found — her empty nest. A pair of 

 Costa's Hummers (Trochilus costm) 

 seemed to be very much excited, the 

 female repeatedly darting at my head. 

 Finally, after standing immovable for 

 nearly half an hour, I was pleased to 

 see Mrs. Trochilus settle down on the 

 tiny white nest. The nest together 

 with the two pure white eggs it con- 

 tained soon found its way into my col- 

 lecting box. A little further on an- 

 other nest of the same species contain- 

 ing one highly incubated egg, was 

 found. This I did not take as the shell 

 these eggs in this conditicn is about as 

 tender as wet blotting paper. 



In a small clump of "tules," cover- 

 ing perhaps a square rod, was a pair of 

 Marsh Wrens, but no nest could be 

 found. Far up in the top of a tall wil- 



