96 



THE OOLOGIST 



rocky ridges of the mountain peaks, 

 Still harder to locate are the tiny- 

 nests, built of soft fibres, covered with 

 bits of bark and moss, and placed high 

 up on a dead limb or pine-cone, usual- 

 ly far out over some precipitous can- 

 yon where an accident would mean 

 instant death to the unfortunate col- 

 lector. The eggs average .45 x .28 

 inches. 



To see a hummingbird daintily pois- 

 ed on whirring pinions in mid-air with 

 its long beak inserted into the heart 

 of some flower, one would naturally 

 suppose that honey was its main food ; 

 but it has been found that more often 

 the bird is in search of minute spiders 

 and insects that live on the flowers. 

 Some honey is eaten, however, and I 

 have seen hummingbirds feeding upon 

 the nectar from an over-ripe apricot or 

 peach, looking like a huge brightly 

 colored bumble bee. 



Incubation lasts in all species from 

 twelve to fourteen days. The young 

 are born naked, and are fed the first 

 few days upon regurgitated food. They 

 develop amazingly, and leave the nest 

 in a couple of weeks to take their 

 place in the world. 



D. I. Shepardson. 

 Los Angeles, Cal. 



Texas Bird Incidents. 



Last Friday, March 3, 1916, I closed 

 the windows of the school house and 

 in so doing I caught part of the roller 

 shade between the sash and the up- 

 per part of the casing in one of the 

 windows. In this position the shade 

 formed a loop about six inches wide 

 with an opening at each end outside 

 of the window. 



Monday morning I found a half com- 

 pleted English Sparrow's nest there — 

 nearly a half pound of straws, feath- 

 ers and the like. I did not remove it 

 until some of the teachers saw it. 



mother heard a fluttering out near the 

 grape arbor; on investigating found 

 a Black Capped Chick-a-dee standing 

 on a limb with it's wing tips frozen to 

 the under side of a limb above it. The 

 trees were all covered with ice and ap- 

 parently this bird became so interest- 

 ed in digging out a grub that it re- 

 mained too long in one place. In a 

 weakened condition it was brought 

 into the house, and after getting warm 

 and partaking of crumbs, expressed 

 a desire to regain it's freedom; this 

 desire was carried out and this tiny 

 bit of flesh and feathers flew to the top 

 of an old Box-elder with a hearty lit- 

 tle "thank you" in the notes of "Chick- 

 adee." 



Ralph Donahue. 

 Bonner Springs, Kansas. 



One day this winter (1915) my 



California Birds. 



On June 9, 1914 I collected a set of 

 four of the Greenbacked Goldfinch 

 from an orange tree 5 feet up. All the 

 eggs are lightly marked over the en- 

 tire shell with fine reddish brown spots 

 with a slightly defined wreath around 

 the larger end. 



June 7, 1914, I collected a set of four 

 of Anthony Green Heron; incubation 

 advanced; from a willow tree 25 feet 

 up, in the middle of a large tract of 

 willows. 



June 1, 1913, collected 1-5 Califor- 

 nia Woodpecker from hole in Syca- 

 more 10 feet up. One egg is a runt 

 about half the usual size. 



June 7, 1914, collected 1-4 Califor- 

 nit Woodpecker from hole in same 

 tree and one of these was a runt 

 about half the size of the others. 



June 15, 1914, collected 1-5 from 

 the same hole and the eggs are dif- 

 ferent sizes from the usual size down 

 to about half size. A third set was 

 layed by these birds in the same hole, 

 about a week later but I neglected to 

 look at them and they were allowed 



