THE 



WILSON BULLETIN 



NO. 103 

 A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY 



VOL. XXX JUNE, 1918 NO. 2 



OLD SERIES VOL. XXX. NEW SERIES VOL. XXV. 



A HUMMING BIRD'S FAVORITE NESTING 

 PLACE. 



F. N. SHANKLAND, WILLOUGHBY, OHIO. 



It is a fact well known to all students of birds that many 

 species of hawks, eagles, owls, swallows, wrens and other 

 birds, return to the same nesting place year after year. It 

 is doubtful, however, whether this has ever been found to be 

 true of humming birds. In two cases that have come to my 

 attention, however, humming birds of two different species 

 have returned to the same nesting haunt on successive sum- 

 mers. 



The accompanying photo shows two nests of the Black- 

 chinned Hummingbird of California. The upper nest was 

 built one year later than the lower one and contained two 

 eggs at the time it was found. The birds had been seen in 

 the locality the previous summer, but the nest had not been 

 located. A year later, however, their secret was discovered 

 and the nest and eggs collected. There is little doubt but 

 that both nests were made by the same pair of birds. Evi- 

 dently they liked the nesting place so well that they returned 

 to it the second year. Nor is it improbable that if the nest 

 had been left undisturbed the proprietors might have added 

 a third nest the following year, and even more after that. 



The nests shown in the photo were found by J. B. Dixon 

 in Escondida, San Diego County, California, on June 12, 

 1904. They were located thirty feet high -in a live oak tree. 



