THE OOLOGIST. 



145 



beeu carried as far as his conclusions. 

 Admitting that he may be corrrct in 

 finding a nest made of wood pulp with- 

 out foundation in nature, it is evident 

 that he goes too far in his conclusion 

 in the following paragraph: "And 

 this nest when completed holds water 

 like a cup. A passing shower f.Us it 

 and drowns the eggs and the mother 

 is obliged to build a new nest! Thiiik 

 of a bird's nest that would fill with 

 water and stay full whenever it rain- 

 ed I How long would a race of birds, 

 that build such watertight nests, sur- 

 vive? A bird's nest will not hold wat- 

 er as well as a boy's straw hat — not 

 even the mud-lined nest of the robin." 

 Now while Mr. Burroughs does not 

 asseit in positive terms that the hum- 

 mingbird's nest will not hold water, it 

 seems that he intended to convey that 

 impression. Mr. Burroughs is hardly 

 the man to retreat behind the mere 

 technicality of words. At first read- 

 ing, a question at once rose as to 

 whether the conclusion had been 

 reached by actual test. Having in a 

 box, ready to send to a friend, a nest 

 of the ruby-throat taken July 7, 1907, 

 the writer proceeded at once to try 

 the experiment. Filling the nest full 

 of water ic was entirely emptied in 

 less than a minute. But this nest was 

 one that was loose on the limb and it 

 was thought that this condition might 

 render it more seive-like. But having 

 in his possesion a very fine nest which 

 was taken June 20, 1907, and contain- 

 ing two eggs, it was with hesitancy 

 that he tried the experiment on this. 

 Wetting would not improve it, to say 

 the least. Anyway on the afternoon 

 of Aug. 14. 1907, at three o'clock, he 

 filled the nest with i)ure water. The 

 water stood all that afternoon, all the 

 next night and until after eleven 

 o'clock the next <lay. Between that 

 time and one o'clock the water soaked 

 through the nest and ran down the 



limb which was still wet when dis- 

 covered. The nest held water for at 

 least twenty hours.* 



However, this article is not intended 

 to merely criticise; but it also aims 

 to show as much of the hummingbird 

 life as is warranted by the writer's ob- 

 servations; so for the sake of added 

 information, the data in connection 

 with this water-tight nest is given. 

 "Collected June 20, 1907, three miles 

 northwest of Baldwin, Kansas. Nest 

 in a burr oak growing on bank of a 

 stream. So low that one could pull 

 down the limb while in the bed of the 

 stream. Nest composed of lichens fas- 

 tened together with spider webs and 

 lined with silky down from some kind 

 of seed, like dandelion or milkweed, 

 (maybe from sycamore balls). Depth, 

 outside, 1 3-4- inches; inside, 3-4 inches. 

 Diameter; outside, 1 3-4 by 1 1-2 

 inches; inside, 1 by 3-4 inch. Two eggs 

 in the nest. Incubation well advanc- 

 ed. Nest was found June 10th and 

 contained one egg. The female kept 

 flying around as the limb with the nest 

 was being cut off." 



His diary further shows several 

 other references. 



"June 20, 1907. Also found another 

 hummingbird building. She would 

 bring a little piece of lichen and put 

 it on the edge of the nest and then, 

 while holding it in her bill, would give 

 it a shake to tangle it in the spider 

 webbs. Then she would settle down 

 into the nest and turn around, shap- 

 ing it with her breast." (This is the 

 leaky one. first filled with water.) 



"June 30, 1907. Visited humming- 

 bii-d's nest found on 20th. Nest appar- 

 ently done. Did not look in. Also 

 found another nest of the ruby-throat 

 about ten feet from the ground on a 

 small limb three feet from the trunk 

 of the small burr oak. It contained 

 young birds half grown." 



The following notes taken Aug. 



