July, 18S2.] 



AND OOLOGT8T. 



13'.) 



Notes from California. 



I think the hardy little Anna Humming 

 bird has got the start tliis year of the 

 Hawks in nesting. They have taken ad- 

 vantage of a warm spell this month , to 

 nest earlier than usual. Dr. J. G. Cooper 

 notes in his work of the birds of this coast 

 that about San Francisco they have y<5img 

 by March 15th. This nest was brought to 

 me by a little fellow from town. He found 

 it in a cypress tree in a church yard. He 

 had been shooting Hummers with a sling 

 shot, and had frightened this one from her 

 nest. Feb. 22d. The nest I have before 

 me, containing two fresh, pearly eggs, is 

 composed of. outside, bits of bark, moss 

 and the stamens from the blue gum tree 

 blossoms, with bits of lichens fastened on 

 with spiders' webs: inside of thistledown 

 with a few bird feathers. It measures 

 across the top If inches, depth inside f of 

 an inch : outside. 1 J inches : across the 

 bottom, i^ inches. The nest was placed 

 on the toj) of a limb seven feet from the 

 groimd. Last year a friend of mine foimd 

 a nest March 24th. The House Finches 

 have commenced to nest. I was out shoot- 

 ing the day after New Year's and got a 

 Short^eared Owl — which I took aUve and 

 kept for some time — American Rough-leg- 

 ged Hawk, Marsh Hawk. Western Red- 

 tailed, Shoveller and Spoonbill Ducks, and 

 three Rocky Mountain Bluebirds. — W. O. 

 Emersion, Ilnyti-ards. Cal. 



Ornithology in the Ark. 



The Old Testament gives no details of 

 life within the ark. To imagine a few of 

 them will nowadays hardly be thought ir- 

 reverent. Every orthodox, at least, must 

 believe that ornithology dates back to tlie 

 earliest history of man ; for Adam named 

 all the animals (though pn)bably he didn't 

 catalogue them as Novinti-tifnus Adanii, 

 Evm), etc., with Adam printed as author- 

 ity after every name. 



Let us imagine, then. Ham and Japhet 

 sitting: tosrether in the ark. What a won 



derfidly interesting gathering of l)ii-ds this 

 is ! says Japhet. 



Yes. says Ham. that's why I'm working 

 on this dart. 



Good heavens ! says Japhet. YcMi're 

 not going to shoot them ? 



Of course I am. says Ham, contemptu- 

 ously. In the first place I shall never 

 again have such a chance to collect : and, 

 secondly, the specimens are in such per 

 feet condition that every one of 'em ought 

 to be in a cabinet. Then you must con- 

 sider that this is a most extraordinary 

 Faumi ; that many of the species have 

 never been obtained in this locality before : 

 and that our records of them won't be of 

 anv value unless we can prove our identifi- 

 cations. There's just a pair all round : and 

 we must seciu-e them and label them as 

 fast as possible. 



But Ham. you forget, says Japhet, that 

 I want to study them alive, and to have 

 them live and multiply. It 's ridiculous to 

 tell me that I can't positively recognize 

 the birds aboard this boat, and make 

 friends of them. 'Twould V)e a shame to 

 kill them. 



The dispute began to wax hot, when 

 Noah, overhearing, interrupted and said : 

 ■' My children, leave the birds alone, for 

 they are sacred to the Lord." And it 

 came to pass that it was a bird which first 

 brought them the olive-branch of peace, 

 the message of salvation. 



The ark has jjassed away, and most of 

 the belief in it : and the sacredness of 

 Nature has become a mere song. But, just 

 supposing that the story of the ark were 

 literally true, and that Ham had made his 

 scientific collection while on that memora- 

 ble voyage, where would living ornithol- 

 ogy be to-day °? Would it be satisfied 

 with his complete nniseum. preserved (let 

 \\H fancy) at Jerusalem, or imported by 

 Barnum to New Y'ork? — Ornitholigi-cus(s). 



Capt. Chas. E. Bendire. so long stationed 

 at Foi-t Walla Walla, is to make his head- 

 quarters at Fort Klamah. Lake Co.. Oregon. 



