144 



THE OOLOGIS'l. 



wood tree, so I began to look among 

 the number of trees of this kind that 

 stood all around. By and by, I saw 

 the object of my search on a small, 

 slender limb, smaller than my little 

 finger. The nest was lichen-coated 

 and the gray of the lichens blended 

 well with the limb and sky. I climb- 

 ed up. There was nothing in it. * * * 

 He handed me his hatchet and I cut 

 off the limb. I could tell that it had 

 been used because of the excrement 

 left in the bottom by the young. * * * 

 Taking the nest back to the buggy, we 

 then followed down the steep-banked 

 ravine to the nest of his other hum- 

 mingbird. It was also in an iron-wood 

 tree, or rather, bush. The tree was 

 about as large as my wrist and the 

 long slender branch, on which the nest 

 was situated, was about twenty feet 

 above the bed of the ravine and about 

 twelve feet from the nearest bank. 

 The old bird was not at home when 

 we went there, so I planted my cam- 

 era with the long focus, so as to take 

 in the whole limb. The clear sky was 

 the back ground. While waiting, El- 

 mer climbed up a small oak tree that 

 over-looked the nest and saw the two 

 eggs. We could occasionally hear the 

 hum of the bird as she flew about to 

 see if the land was clear. Finally she 

 began to fly about the nest and settled 

 down on it without a second's halt. 

 Her motions were so rapid that it was 

 hard to follow her with the eyes. Af- 

 ter trying two plates, we decided to 

 go up the branch of Coal Creek to 

 the nest Ralph and I had found two 

 weeks before. 



"After following the stream a ways, 

 we heard a hummingbird, and began, 

 at once to scan the available limbs for 

 the nest. After a search of five or 

 ten minutes, Elmer found it out on the 

 limb of a small tree, and about fif- 

 teen feet from the ground. Elmer 

 climbed to it, and found it empty. 



"Next we went on up the stream and 

 when within about fifty yards of the 

 place where Ralph and I had found 

 our nest, I heard what I thought to be 

 the buzz of a hummingbird. Looking 

 up into the elm tree, whose branches 

 over-hung the creek bed in which I 

 was walking, I descried the nest. It 

 was so low that I could pull down the 

 branch and see the two small white 

 eggs. Elmer wanted the eggs for the 

 Museum (Baker University) and I 

 wanted the nest; so I had him shoot 

 the female after we had taken the 

 eggs and nest. I expect to take a pic- 

 ture of the nest, eggs and bird, which 

 Elmer is going to mount on one of the 

 limbs by the nest. 



"After getting the specimens pack- 

 ed away we went to my first humming- 

 bird's nest, the one Ralph and I had 

 found. The eggs had been hatched 

 and there were two little bits of birds, 

 smaller than the tips of my finger. 

 The down was beginning to show on 

 their backs and one could see two 

 rows of yellowish golden spots run- 

 ning down their backs almost like the 

 stripes of young quails or chickens. 



"In all, we saw five hummingbirds' 

 nests. Three of them were in use. We 

 secured on the trip, two humming- 

 birds' nests, two eggs and one bird, 

 besides a tanger's nest and two Bells' 

 Greenlets. Had we desired to do so, 

 we could have collected the other set 

 of hummingbird's eggs. We went, rath- 

 er to get a picture of the nest, with 

 an old bird on the nest. However, the 

 plates were not good." 



Prom these notes it would seem 

 that, if Mr. Burroughs correctly dated 

 the flowers, in Kansas and Maryland, 

 the hummingbird builds late enough 

 for the structural process to take 

 place when the mountain and meadow 

 lilies bloom. 



Now as to another instance in which 

 Mr. Burrough's observations have not 



