March, 1886.] 

Early Breeding of Anna’s Hum- 
mingbird. 
BY W. OTTO EMERSON, HAYWARDS, CAL. 
What will be thought of Anna’s Hummingbird, 
(Calypte anne,) breeding on January 19th? Yet 
such is the case in this locality. The warm 
weather we had has opened a number of flowers, 
and gum trees loaded with their white bunches of 
bloom, raspberries in blossom, etc., no doubt made 
the birds think it time to commence nesting. 
At noon, when our trimmer returned to the 
house for dinner, -he told us that while at work 
cutting off a large limb of a pear tree, a female 
Hummingbird came around, and seemed to be 
very uneasy about something. He did not pay 
much attention to her, until she flew about his 
face. He then noticed a nest, very small and 
nicely placed on the twigs. As he walked over 
to another tree to rest the branch on it, she lit on 
the nest, and only took flight again on his putting 
it down. She then went back to where the limb 
had been cut off, and tried to perch on another 
place. It was no use. She knew something had 
been done to her home. He had meantime cut 
the twig off with the nest on, intending to tie it 
back on another limb. In sawing the limb off, 
the two eggs rolled out on the dead leaves. One 
of them was broken in the fall, the other had the 
end chipped, but picking it up he put it back, and 
then tied it in the fork of a large branch. He 
then stepped backward to see the result. The 
bird flew to the nest, sat down and commenced to 
dress her feathers, no doubt thinking it was all 
right. 
I went out in the afternoon. The bird seemed 
to be uneasy, as she had missed the other ege no 
doubt as she kept flying from tree to tree. 
The nest was placed on a twig, like a chicken’s 
claw, where the branch forked out. There were 
five small twigs coming out, known to fruit 
growers as ‘‘fruit spurs.” It was about seven or 
eight feet from the ground, on south side of tree, 
which was entirely denuded of leaves. The fact 
of the bird building on the southern exposure, 
shows her sense or instinct, for the most warmth 
to be had from the winter’ssun. During the hot 
days of May and June they choose some cool re- 
treat, along the shady creeks, or many blue-gum 
tree groves about Haywards. 
The nest I took in this morning, Jan. 20th, as 
she had left it, and it would be soon pouring 
down rain. The Hummingbird was still around, 
feeding on the raspberry flowers, but she seemed 
sad and lost. The cold winds no doubt made her 
think that it would have been better to have 
waited or gone further south. 
AND OOLOGIST. 37 
I had noticed this Hummingbird for some 
two weeks back, but did not pay any attention to 
her, little dreaming that she had begun nest-build- 
ing, as they can be seen around the gardens all 
winter. 
The little nest now sits before me on its chairof 
fruit spurs. It is composed of the usual cottony 
substance of thistle weeds, with a great. quantity 
of feathers of the California Quail worked in. 
The outside is well covered with spider webs, 
fine threads of bark, and_ beautiful sea-green 
lichens are well distributed over the whole, with 
here and there a bit of dark green moss. 
It is wonderful how they will put on these 
lichens with their long pine-needle like bill. I 
have watched them at work putting the webs over 
all by drawing their bills up and down, over the 
sides of the nest, as they sat thereon. The egos 
were within five days of hatching, showing she 
had been incubating about six days, as it takes 
from ten to twelve days for these little mites to 
come forth. c 
I will here speak of an Allen’s Hummingbird, 
(Selasphorus alleni,) that commenced to build its 
nest on a running rose, under the porch roof, and 
within eight feet of the floor, in front of our bed- 
room window, on May 27, 1885. She commenced 
the nest on the end of the stalk, by bringing a lot 
of willow cotton and webs. She would place her- 
self on the spot chosen, then with her bill, running 
it here and there around the edge of the bottom, 
picking out a bit here and there, to place some 
other in its place, then working her wings in a 
fluttering manner to shape the nest around her 
body. On May 31st she laid her first egg, al- 
though the nest was not all done yet. She laid 
some time before 10 o’clock, as I kept watch of 
her, and she had been sitting all day on account 
of the high winds blowing the long running rose 
stalk. By sitting close she kept the egg from 
rolling out. Once or twice she left the nest to get 
a bit of web or cotton, to put on around the nest. 
On June 1st she did not lay an egg as the wind 
was blowing hard all day. So she had to keep on 
her nest to save her egg. The nest swung like 
“the cradle in the tree-top,” of nursery rhyme 
fame. The nest looked about half done, a great 
deal of cotton from the willows and the steamens 
of the Australian blue gum tree flowers. On 
June 3d one of the eggs got shaken out of the 
nest and was broken on the floor. Still she sat. 
On June 4th the wind was very violent and 
switched out the other egg. The bird would 
come to the nest, look in, and then dart away, 
hovering in the air, give two or three sharp rasp- 
ing notes, and then fly off to hunt her mate to tell 
him of their fate. The nest still hangs there to the 
winter’s winds. 
