THE OOOEGIST. 



231 



plete, and with no little compunction, I 

 deprived the creature of her treasures. 



This acceptable addition to my cabi- 

 net added new zeal to my endeavors. 

 Ou the 20th I began a systematic search 

 of a hedge close by, which lined a pub- 

 lic road. I found it impossible to keep 

 trace of a particular bird on account of 

 the number that inhabited the place, 

 and also, on account of the density of 

 the foliage of the large cypress trees 

 which composed the hedge. The sun 

 was rather warm so I took the shady 

 side of the hedge and began the search. 

 It was a day characteristic of these hap- 

 py coasts; the quiet was broken by no 

 sound but the reveling of songsters and 

 the busy hum of the creatures whose 

 province I had invaded. In the distance 

 the ocean which in these genial climes 

 seems to have renounced its preroga- 

 tive of terror — the quiet waters reflect- 

 ing the kindly hues of the skies, the 

 deep and placid bosom receiving the fra- 

 grant odors borne it by the breezes of 

 the land — lay peacefully moaning as 

 the breakors lapped the sand 

 skirt shores. My first find was 

 a full set of Allen; the nest was 

 fastened to a twig at the height of my 

 breast from the ground. While remov- 

 ing the nest and placing it and the eggs 

 into my collecting-box, the female dart- 

 ed about my head. During the remain- 

 der of the search, two other nests were 

 found, one containing one egg, the oth- 

 er just completed. These were collect- 

 ed when the sets were complete, which 

 was upon the 21st and 22d. 



On the 10th of April I again searched 

 this hedge. Upon that morning, while 

 passing the hedge on my bicycle, I 

 flushed a female Allen's from her nest. 

 I made an unsuccessful ?earch for 

 the nest and concluded to search again 

 for it upon my return at noon. At noon 

 I watched closely and flushed her again 

 from the same spot. After a long search 

 I had aoout concluded that I could not 

 find the nest, when the bird dashed up 



on it. It was only a foot or so from the 

 ground and contained two fresh eggs. 



On the following day a friend and 

 myself visited some ponds nine or ten 

 miles from town. Here we expected to 

 find nests of Coots and Rails; but after 

 wading among the tides for an hour or 

 two we gave up in disgust, and started 

 in our rig for a mountain canon a few 

 miles further on, Here we scrambled 

 about among an indeterminable mass of 

 poison-oak, black-berry vines, wild ros- 

 es, and nettles, making little progress 

 and no discoveries. Finally we found 

 a nest of an Arkansas Goldfinch, and 

 in our enbeavors to get it, we succeed- 

 in tipping it upside down with the re- 

 sult which usually accompanies such a 

 misfortune. 



Considering our time wasted here, 

 and being attracted by the presence of 

 a number of Hummingbirds, we took 

 to the bed of a stream hard by. The 

 banks rose up perpendicularly fifteen 

 to fifty feet, and were matted and cover- 

 ed by a dense mass of bushes and vines 

 Of many kinds. While here we found 

 two complete sets of Allen's. The nests 

 were fastened to the stalks of slender 

 weeds that grew on the banks. After 

 we emerged from the water-way and 

 were about to leave the vicinity, we 

 found a nest of an Anna's in an oak tree, 

 far out on a slender limb; we tried to 

 get it. Each took his turn and clam- 

 bered up the tree, and performed all 

 the acrobatic feats that he had mastered 

 during his career as an oologist, while 

 the bird, sitting unconcernedly on her 

 nest, watched the circus with no little 

 interest. Frustrated in all our attempts 

 we sat down to gaze longingly at the 

 nest, and grow eloquent in berating the 

 climbing abilities of the other. Our 

 oratorical efforts were cut rather short 

 by the appearance of our horse coming 

 tearing down the lane close at hand, 

 with the rope lashing the ground in a 

 furious manner. We set out in hot 

 pursuit and captured the fugitive in a 



