THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



which the Hiiwks had used last year. 

 About two miles from this nest, I found a 

 nest on the face of a large rock, which I 

 thought at first was that of the Horned 

 Owl, because I saw two Owls of this 

 species around the nest, Imt I soon found 

 out that it was that of the Red-tailed Hawk. 

 While I was climbing up to the nest, the 

 Owl flew at me, as if she was going to 

 fly into my face, I put out my hand to 

 knock her off, and when I did so, she took 

 me by the arm and came near pulling me 

 off of the rock. She would have done so 

 if the cloth in my sleeve had not gave 

 away, and let her fly away with a large 

 piece of it. When I reached the nest, 

 I found one fresh egg of the Red-tailed 

 Hawk. I do not know what made the 

 Owls try to drive me away from this uest 

 for ; they must have had a nest of their 

 own hid in the rock, but I could notlind it. 



April 8th, I found the nest of the Barn 

 Owl in a hole on the fhce of a cliff. The 

 eggs had hatched, and the young had 

 deserted the ntsl. I will say that I found 

 this nest on the .'ith of July, 1884, it then 

 had three fresh eggs of this Owl. When I 

 was going into the hole, 1 heard a loud re- 

 jiort \inder me. and when I had cleaned 

 away the ground I found it came from the 

 breaking of an egg which had not hatched. 

 I found thus covered up, five eggs in this 

 hole, and three in a hole five feet from it. 

 This must have been the home of the Burn 

 Owl for many years. 



April 10th: I found a nest and five fresh 

 eggs of the Rock Wren, in a hole under ii 

 large rock. It was composed of fine sticks 

 and dry grass. 



April 20th and 21st : I took sets of four 

 and five egg.s, of the Western Meaflow 

 Lark. 



April 22d: I found a nest and five frish 

 eggs of the California Jaj', in an oak tree, 

 eight feet from the ground. It was com- 

 posed of sticks and lined witn horse hair 

 and white moss. On this same date, I 

 found a nest and six fresh eggs of the 

 Meadow Lark, it was of dry grass with a 

 cover over it. 



April 24th ; I found a nest and three fresh 



eggs of the California Thrasher, It was built 

 in a chaparral thicket, four feet from the 

 ground, formed of rough twigs, and lined 

 with grass. On this date I found a nest 

 and two young ones, of the California 

 Jay, in a tree fifteen feet from the ground. 



April 28th: I found a nest of the Red- 

 tailed Hawk in a redwood tree, ■ about 

 seventy-five feet from the ground. The 

 tree was on the side of a hiil, and by going 

 up to the top, I could look into the nest 

 and see three or four young Hawks in it. 



April 30th: I found a nest and five fresh 

 eggs of the Least Tit, in a tree, fifteen feet 

 from the ground. For a more interesting 

 account of the nest of this bird, see H. R. 

 Taylor's account on page 100, Vol. 1, of 

 The Young Oologirt. 



E. H. FisKE, 



Santa Cruz, Cal. 



Hummingbird. 



1 see the Yodkg Oologist that a per- 

 son wishes to know if a Humming-bird 

 lays eggs liefore the nest is finished. lean 

 say from experience in finding these eggs 

 in different places that they do. Last 

 spring, while gunning on the Oclanahaw 

 River, Fla., I came across a fine little 

 thistle swamp, and close by was a number 

 of wild orange trees, and as this tree is 

 very knotty it naturally leaves small holes in 

 the side of the tree ; and after I had col- 

 lected a number of Green-back Hummers 

 I noticed that they all flew to this orange 

 grove, so I thought I would see if it wa& 

 the orange blossoms that they went after, 

 but to my surprise I found that they all 

 went into these little knot-holes. When I 

 looked into them there was no sign of a 

 nest ; only a litt'e down, and out of these 

 I procured some of the flnest specimens of 

 Hummers' eggs I have ever seen. I took 

 from this swamp over 200 Hunmiers' skins, 

 1 collected also, near the line of the Pana- 

 ma Railroad, some very line Rocket- 

 tails. Yours, 



J. T. Jones, 

 Maiden, Mass. 



