THE OREGON NATURALIST. 
89 
WRITTEN FOR THE OREGON NATURALIST: 
HOW THEY BATHE. 
BY G, W. HARVEY 
Some yeats ago I was interested in a goat 
farm, located in the Santa Barbara Mts, of 
Calif. 
and one of the most common was the ruby- 
throated humming bird (77ochilus colubris,) 
It was there that I first observed its habit of bath- 
‘There was a great variety of birds there 
ing, which I never have seen reported. Frequent- 
ly while resting by a stream, in the shade, have 
I seen the little fellows perform their ablution, 
One would naturally suppose that so small a 
bird would choose a very quiet shallow pool 
for a bath, but instead they always choose a 
deep and rushiag current. I have never seen 
them bathe except in the region of a waterfall, 
and this is how they do it. 
Flying near a water fall of small dimensions 
they alight on a bough and go through a_pre- 
paratory dressing for the bath. Many feathers 
over the main body are pricked up and_separ- 
ated from the rest, in order as I suppose to 
make the bath more effectual. As soon as this 
pricking process is finished they give them- 
selves a shake, fluff their feathers all up and 
fly tor the water, which they strike where it 
seeths and foams in a most turbulent manner 
as it leaves the pool just under the ‘‘fall.’ 
They literally fly through this boiling, tumbling, 
foam-capped scud submerged to the neck and 
come out on the other side fairly well drench- 
ed and light upon a limb which they seemed to 
have picked upon before their plunge. 
After a short rest which is spent in looking 
over and arranging their plumage they return as 
they went, seeming to delight in a bout with 
the boisterous waters. This second plunge 
ends the bath and after they have carefully ar- 
ranged all their feathers, oiling such as need it 
they are off to the flowers and insects. 
WRITTENFOR THE OREGON NATURALIST: 
AN OOLOGICAL COLLECTION 
BY W. S. J. 
Certainly no one can deny that a large and 
well kept collection of birds’ eggs is beautiful to 
look upon; and its owner will show you the 
treasures with pride, and tell you how much 
libor and expense the collection, he so highly 
prizes, has cost him, and perhaps he will tell 
you that the collection now contains over three 
hundred sets of eggs. 
Let us see what this means; three hundred set 
of eggs. The sets will easily average four eggs 
Of course some willcontain but two or 
three eggs, but the majority of sets contain 
four eggs or more, and many have eight or ten 
and a few even more than that number. 
each. 
For the sake of computation we will assume 
that at the end of ten years the young which 
would have been hatched from these eggs, to- 
gether with thei: offspring had all lived. Many 
of course, would have died during the ten years 
from disease or accident, and perhaps some from 
old age, but at the same time we have not taken 
into consideration the many birds that raise two 
or more broods each season, and their offspring. 
When a set of four eggs are taken it repre- 
sents simply what it is,four birds eggs. If 
however these four were left to hatch, the fall 
of the second year this set would represent 
twelve birds; the two original pairs, or four 
birds, and their four young each, making twelve 
altogether. 
The third year this set of four eggs represents 
thirty six birds, and if you will take the trouble 
to figure it out you will find that atthe end of 
five years the single set represents 324 birds; 
at the end of eight years 8748 birds; and at the 
end of ten years the enormous number of 
78732 birds. 
This shows what a single set of four eggs re- 
presents at the end of ten years. In the same 
iength of time a collection of three hundred sets 
