208 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN RIBDS. 



the genus Cabjpte. The entire operation of hatching, from tlic time I discovered 

 that the egg was pipped, consumed about fifteen minutes. 



" In Lower Cahfornia the nesting season extended from January to June, 

 and perliaps longer. One of the nests found by me near my camp at VaUadares, 

 Lower California, was built within 8 feet of a blacksmith's forge, where the 

 smoke constantly obscured nest, Ijird, and all; but the structure was finished 

 and the eggs laid in spite of the noise and confusion." 



Besides spiders, small insects, etc., and the nectar of different kinds of flow- 

 ers, Anna's Hummingbird is said to be extremely fond of the sap of the willow 

 {Sal'ix laiiokins), and it has also been observed hovering about the punctures 

 made by the Red-breasted Sapsucker {Sphyrapicus ruber) in fruit orchards. 



Nidification, as already stated, begins very early in C'alifornia, occasionally 

 in January, but more often in February, and, as a rule, but few of the first nests 

 are found. The second sets find their way into collections more frequently, 

 however, and the season for these is at its height in April or the first half of 

 May. At this time they retire farther into the foothills and nest mostly among 

 the shrubbery along the numerous small creeks found in the canyons of the 

 mountains, following up the flowers, in which they find a considerable portion 

 of their daily food, and which usually bloom somewhat later in such localities. 



The nests of Anna's Hummingbird also differ somewhat from those of the 

 previously described species in their general make-up, and can in most cases 

 be readily distinguished from them. The inner walls are likeAvise composed of 

 various kinds of plant down, that found on the under side of the leaves ot 

 sycamore being perliaps most frequently used, while willow and thistle down 

 enters less often into their composition. Some of the early nests are almost 

 entirely composed of the flowers of the Eucalyptus, the Australian gum tree. 

 The outer walls are covered with soft green tree mosses and lichens, principally 

 the former, and these are held firmly in place by spider webs and cocoons. The 

 inner cup is lined with fine plant down and a few soft, fluffy feathers (apparently 

 those of the female) and occasionally with fur. A well-preserved, average-sized 

 specimen, taken near Santa Cruz, California, on May 14, 1872, measures about 

 1^ inches in outer diameter by IJ inches in height; the inner cup is 1 inch in 

 diameter by five-eigliths of an inch in depth; while one kindly sent me by Mr. 

 C. Barlow, of Santa Clara, California, taken by him on February 11, 1894, 

 containing two slightly incubated eggs, has much thicker walls and is profusely 

 lined with soft feathers of the Western Bluebird. It was saddled on a hori- 

 zontal twig of a cypress about half an inch thick and 15 feet from the ground. 

 He writes: "This was the first Amia's Hummingbird's nest found by me in 

 1894. Cn the same day several pairs were seen and one i)air Avas found to be 

 building on the remains of a last year's nest, which contained fresh eggs on 

 February 21. At this season of the year it is nsunlly rainy; the sim generally 

 rises bright, but is soon obscured by clouds. I noticed that a large majority of 

 these early nests were built on the east side of the trees, which appeared to me 

 as being done perhaps so as to catch tlie rays of the sun while it shone for per- 



