450) NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



In ('alirm'iiia, soiitli of Sun Francisco, this species was also ohscrvotl, by 

 Dr. C(io]»cr, to ha a constant resident in mild winters, remaining among the 

 foot-liills of tlie Sierra Xevada, at least iil'teen hundred I'eet above tlie sea. 

 There lie lias i'ound them (juite common in Feljruary. At tliat season tlow- 

 crs, and conse(|nently insects, are mure almndant tlian in the ihy snnnners. 

 Tlie males are in tine plumage early in f January. 



Dr. Cooper states that the nests ot this species are huilt at various heights 

 and positions, oi'ten in gardens, and sumetimes on dead liranches, without 

 any attem])t at concealment cxcej)t tlie outside covering of lichens. He 

 has found them made almost wholly of mosses, witii only a lining of 

 featliers and down of plants. In the neightiorliood of San Francisco the 

 young are sometimes hatched as early as the middle of March. 'I'liis species 

 ap]iears to he more hardy than tlie others, being connnon along tlie coa.st 

 border, though Dr. Coojier saw none near the summits of the Sierra Xe- 

 vada. 



The notes of the male bird, lie states, are like the .sound produced l)y the 

 filing of a saw or the whetting of a scythe. They enter familiarly into the 

 city of San Francisco, and even venture into rooms, attracted liy the tlowers. 

 They are bold and contident, ajiproach to within a few feet of man, but at 

 the least motion disappear like a Hash. 



Dr. Ifecrmanu found this species (juite common at San Diego in March, 

 and in its full spring plumage. In Seiitemiier he ])rocured a nnmlier of 

 specimens on a small island in the Cosumnes IJiver. While on tlie wing 

 in pursuit of insects, or after alighting on a small branch, he heard them 

 utter a very weak twitter, conliiiucd for a minute or more. 



A nest of tliis species from I'etaluiiia is about l..")(l inches in diameter, 

 and l.tJit in height, and hears no resemblance to the one described by Xut- 

 tall. It is made of a commingling of mosses and vegetaljle down, covered 

 e.xteriially with a tine yellow lichen. The eggs measure .(Id by .40 of an 

 inch, and are al)(nit ten per cent larger than those of any other X'orth 

 American llumming-Jiird. 



Another nest of this llnniming-TJird, obtained in T'etaluma, Cal., by Mr. 

 Emanuel Samuels, measures l.To inches in diameter, and about I. (10 in 

 heiglit. Its cavity is one incli in diameter at the rim, and half an inch ifi 

 depth. Its lining is composed of such soft materials that its limits are not 

 well detiiK'd. Tlie base of the nest is made of feathers, mosses, and lichens 

 of several varieties of the smaller kinds. Tiie ])eri|iliery and rim of the nest 

 are of nearly the same materials. The inner fabric consists of a muss of a 

 dirty-white vegetaiile wool, witii a lining of the very finest and softest of 

 feathers, intermingled with down from the seeds of .some species of silk- 

 weed. The jiredominant lichen in the base and sides of the nest is the 

 Ramulina mcnzmti, which is peculiar to California. The nest contained a 

 single egg. 



