THE OOOLGIST. 



231 



plete, and with no little compunction, I 

 tleprived the creature of her treasures. 



This acceptal)le addition to my cabi- 

 net added new zeal to nij* endeavors. 

 On tlie 20th I began a systematic search 

 of a hedge close by, which lined a pub- 

 lic road. I found it impossible to keep 

 trace of a particular biril on account of 

 the number that inhabited the place, 

 and also, on account of the density of 

 the foliage of the large C3"press trees 

 which composed the hedge. The sun 

 was rather warm so I took the shady 

 side of the hedge and began tlie search. 

 It was a day characteristic of these hap- 

 py coasts; the quiet was broken by no 

 sound but the reveling of songsters and 

 the bnsy hum of the creatures whose 

 province I had invaded. In the distance 

 the ocean which in these genial climes 

 seems to have renounced its preroga- 

 tive of terror — the quiet waters retlect- 

 iug the kindly hues of the skies, the 

 deep and placid bosom receiving the fra- 

 grant odors borne it by the breezes of 

 the land — lay peacefully moaning as 

 the breakers lapped the sand 

 skirt shores. My llrst find was 

 a full set of Allen; the nest was 

 fastened to a twig at the height of my 

 breast from the ground. While remov- 

 ing the nest and placing it and the eggs 

 into my collecting-box, the female dart- 

 ed al)0Ut my head. During the remain- 

 der of the search, two other nests were 

 found, one containing one egg, the oth- 

 er just completed. These were collect- 

 ed when the sets were complete, which 

 was upon the 21st and 22il. 



On the 10th of April I again searched 

 this hedge. Upon that morning, while 

 passing the hedge on my bicycle, I 

 Hushed a female Allen's from her nest. 

 I made an unsuccessful search for 

 the nest anil concluded to search again 

 for it upon my return at noon. At noon 

 I watched closely and Hushed her again 

 from the same spot. After a hnig search 

 I had aoout concluded that I could not 

 linil the nest, when the bird dashed up 



on it. It was only a foot or so from the 

 ground and contained two fresh eggs. 



On the following daj' a friend and 

 myself visited some ponds nine or ten 

 miles from town. Here we expected to 

 tind nests of Coots and Rails; but after 

 wading among the tules for an hour or 

 two we gave up in disgust, and started 

 in our rig for a mountain canon a few 

 miles further on. Here we scrambled 

 about among an indeterminable mass of 

 poison-oak, black-borry vines, Avild ros- 

 es, and nettles, making little progress 

 and no discoveries. Finally we found 

 a nest of an Arkansas Goldtinch, and 

 in our enbeavors to gist it, we succeed- 

 in tipping it upside down with the re- 

 sult which usuallj' accompanies such a 

 misfortune. 



Considering our time Avasted here, 

 and being attracted l)y the presence of 

 a number of Hummingbirds, we took 

 to the bed of a stream hard by. The 

 banks rose up perpendicularly fifteen 

 to fifty feet, and were matted and cover- 

 ed by a dense mass of bushes and vines 

 of many kinds. While here we found 

 two complete sets of Allen's. The nests 

 were fastened to the stalks of slender 

 weeds that grew on the banks. After 

 we emerged from the water-way and 

 were about to leave the vicinity, we 

 found a nest of an Anna's in an oak tree, 

 far out on a slender limb; we tried to 

 get it. Each took his turn and clam- 

 bered up the tree, and performed all 

 the acrobatic feats that he had mastered 

 during his career as an o5logist, while 

 the bird, sitting unconcernedly on her 

 nest, watched the circus with no little 

 interest. Frustrated in all our attempts 

 we sat down to gaze longingly at the 

 nest, and grow eloipientiu berating the 

 climljiug abilities of the other. Our 

 oratorical efforts were cut rather short 

 Ijy the appearance of our horse coming 

 tearing down the lane clo.se at hand, 

 with the rope lashing the ground in a 

 furious manner. We set out in hot 

 pursuit and captured tlic fugitivi; in a 



