Auk 
Jan. 
E2 Koss, The Rufous Hummingbird. 
tained eggs. During the nesting season the males frequently, 
but not always, sit near the tree in which their home is placed 
and attempt to drive all birds from the vicinity of the nest. They 
pay great attention to their duty and seldom fail to dart after 
other Hummers, even if they are simply passing the tree in 
which the nest is placed. I have good reasons to believe that 
they do this more from a love of fighting than from parental 
instinct or devotion, since the male birds rarely appear upon the 
scene when their nest is being taken. ‘Their nests may often be 
located by the actions of the male towards other birds in the 
vicinity of the nest; and I have found several nests in this way. 
On March 19, 1898, while out after birds in a small grove of 
trees I heard a rather queer rasping note which was new to me. 
Upon looking around I finally saw a male Hummingbird which 
would fly upward for about fifty or sixty feet and then suddenly 
dart towards the ground until it almost touched the earth, where 
it made the note, which had a very rasping sound and which was 
quite loud. I have seen them make this note on cloudy as well 
as on bright days but the latter seem to be the favorite times for 
going through this queer performance. I have never been able 
to ‘discover why they do it, but I have come to the conclusion 
that it has no connection with either the nesting site or with other 
Hummers of either sex. It seems to be an individual matter of 
pleasure or possibly alarm. 
The nests of this bird may be looked for very early in the 
spring. The earliest record which I have is a nest found on 
April 25 of last year which contained young birds about a week 
old. Of course this is unusual, but nests containing eggs are 
quite abundant by the latter part of April if the spring is at all 
early. The nest just spoken of was built upon the bough of a 
young spruce and it was not over six feet from the ground. I 
find the following statement in my notes concerning a nest found 
on May 2. The nest was situated upon the side of a small 
branch which grew downward from the horizontal limb of a me- 
dium sized spruce. In a horizontal line the nest was about 
twenty feet from the tree trunk and half this distance from the 
ground. It was very well hidden by the branch upon which it 
rested, and difficult to find. It was composed of soft green moss 
