EXPLORATION IN UPPER CALIFORNIA IN 1860. 429 
spoken of. Several eggs and nests have already been forwarded, but 1 am un- 
able to class them, as the bird was not seen on the nest.* 
Humming-birds—This family is well represented about Yreka and vicinity. 
T found several nests, in all of which the eggs contained embryos. The nests 
I had were of three kinds: those found on willow bushes (Aéthis anna, were 
lined with spider webs, those on oak trees (Callothorax calliope) with small 
scales of bark, and some found about Yreka on small bushes were coated on’the 
outside with a combination of small leaves and scales of bark, bound together with 
spider webs., Of birds I only obtained two. The head and neck of one were 
of a very brilliant fire-color, ( Atthis anna,) the other resembling the Callothorax 
calliope, but with a longer bill; this latter one was abundant about the willow 
brush at Butte Creek valley. Both nests and birds I lost in the difficulty with 
the Indians. 
INSECTS. 
Grasshoppers —These insects were first seen by me in Pitt River valley 
during the summer of 1859, and in such number as actually to cover the ground. 
They were confined to the west side of the river, which divides the valley, none 
being seen on the opposite side save a few, which, having fallen into the stream, 
were carried over. So numerous were they that vegetation was entirely destroyed 
throughout the valley on the west side of Pitt and Fall rivers. 
The eggs are laid in July and August. The insect deposits the eggs by 
making perpendicular and oblique holes in the ground, to the depth of an inch, 
by means of its tail, which is shaped like a bayonet, and is hollow. The eggs 
are passed from the ovary into this tail, and are dropped one by one into the 
holes. The localities selected for making these nests, or holes, is generally on 
ground slightly undulating, the nature of the soil making little difference; the 
nests are generally made on the south side of the hillock or knoll. Some six 
eggs are laid in each nest. The eggs resemble, in form, pieces of vermicelli of 
one-fourth of an inch in length, and are of a milky-white color. After making 
some three or four nests, or holes, in the manner described, the insect dies, sel- 
dom living more than twelve hours after the last deposit. It appears to have 
no particular food, but feeds upon all kinds of vegetation; it will eat the dead 
and crippled of its own kind, but I never observed them destroy one another. 
When caught in the hand they bite, and emit a very disagreeable, dirty, dark- 
green fluid from the mouth, It is remarkably tenacious of life; I cut the head 
off one, and could distinctly see signs of animation some twelve hours after. 
There is but little difference in size between the sexes. Immediately before 
uniting sexually, the insect without the tail (which I presume to be the male) 
utters a shrill, whistling sound, as if to call his mate. The sexual act lasts 
about one or two minutes, and the peculiarity I observed at this union was, that 
the one which I presume to be the female was over the male, instead of the 
reverse. After the act a small bag—evidently the ovary—is attached to the 
body of the female close to the tail; this is extracted from the other without 
the tail; after a while the bag disappears. The time which elapses betweén the 
sexual act and the deposit of the eggs I am unable to state, but after the eggs 
are deposited it is my belief that they remain until the following spring before 
being hatched. Their migratory flight extends but a few miles. When moving, 
they start in the morning, and, from their precision of movement, they appear 
like a vast army on parade. The course once marked out, they never deviate 
from it on account of any obstacle, but move straight forward over houses and 
all else. Clear and warm days are chosen for travel, but the too scorching rays 
of the sun will cause them to seek shelter, as will also inclement weather; the 
cover usually selected is bunch-grass or low brushwood, &c. ? 
* Those identified belong to the red-breasted teal, ( Querquedula cyanoptera.)—S. F. B. 
