Nesting Time. 



one worth much patient observation 

 to see. 



Allen's humming-bird comes from 

 the south during the warm spring days 

 of February, and commences nest 

 building during the latter part of 

 March or early in April. Operations 

 are frequently retarded by the late 

 spring storms, and sometimes the young 

 birds perish from exposure to the rain. 

 An unfinished nest which I recently 

 examined had been abandoned under 

 rather unusual circumstances. For many 

 years a pair of these little creatures had 

 nested in a New Zealand pine, protected 

 from all intruders by the sharp, stiff 

 needles of the tree. They had again 

 commenced their nest in this favored 

 retreat when the mother bird, in shaping 

 her basket with her body, evidently 

 felt one of the sharp spines pricking 

 her breast through the bottom of her 

 cradle. It was quite evident that the 

 little ones would be killed, if, indeed, 

 the eggs were not punctured by the 



20I 



