232 



THE OOLOGIST. 



neighboring orchard and, finding every 

 thing safe, we started for home. 



On the 12th I searched anew the cy- 

 presses in front of the house finding two 

 sets of Allen's, one in nice condition the 

 other too badly incubated to save. 

 Again on the 28th I found a full set of 

 the same species together with a nest 

 containing young, and a set almost 

 hatched. 



During the last of April I found a 

 nest of an Allen's in a cypress tree over- 

 hanging a bank of about fifteen feet in 

 height; the nest was at the extremity of 

 a limb extending over the bank, which 

 which was of loose, crumbling earth. I 

 ventured out on the limb until it began 

 to give and yet the nest was beyond my 

 reach; I crawled out a little further and 

 yet the nest was too far away; the limb 

 was threatening to break every moment 

 — out I moved— I heard a crack, felt a 

 thud then down the bank rolled the 

 nest, limb, and myself, landing at the 

 bottom in an ignominious heap. I 

 pulled my crushed derby from over my 

 eyes to find myself astride the limb, 

 plumb upon the nest, which contained 

 an omelet ready for the cook. 



On May Day my friend and I took a 

 trip into the country where we found a 

 complete set of each of Anna's, Allen's 

 and Black chinned. 



Just a week after I found in the 

 hedge a set of Allen's, the nest being 

 built in a very exposed situation, 

 and easily seen from the road. On May 

 9th while wandering about the hills, I 

 took a nest and one egg of the Black- 

 chinned. Three days afterwards, while 

 in a creek bottom after a Lazuli Bunting 

 nest which I had previously located, I 

 stumbled upon a nest, of an Anna's con- 

 taining two eggs. On the 20th I search- 

 ed in the same creek, finding two full 

 sets of the Anna's, the nests were -in a 

 sycamore tree and composed of the 

 down from the leaves of the tree. On 

 the last day of May, I made my last 

 find which was a complete set of Allen's. 



The eggs of all Hummingbirds (as 

 far as known) are white in color; and 

 the complement is two. The eggs of 

 theAnna's are usually a trifle larger than 

 those of the Allen's or the Black-chinned 

 The nests of the Black-chinned and the 

 Anna's are usually composed ofjthedown 

 from the leaves of sycamore trees, and 

 appear like small yellow balls. Some- 

 times the nests of theAnna's are covered 

 with green lichens, held on by cobwebs. 

 The nests of theAllen's are usually larg- 

 er than those of the former two, bulkier 

 and less attractive; they are composed 

 of feathers, plant down and moss. 



During the season I collected 15 sets, 

 28 eggs, in all cases preserving the nests 

 with the eggs. My companion collected 

 at least as many. I made no note of 

 the nests I found containing young, or 

 those where the eggs were too far ad- 

 vanced to save. This, I have the au- 

 dacity to consider a good record consid- 

 ering the limited amount of time which 

 I had to spend in the field. 



Harry C. Lillie, 



Ann Arbor, Mich. 



A Collecting Expedition- 



The day appointed for our collecting 

 and camping expedition June 13th, hav- 

 ing arrived we were on the boat bright 

 and early making preparations for our 

 departure. Our party consisted of four 

 pleasure-loving youths, two of which 

 were bent on fishing and two, includ- 

 ing myself were after oological speci- 

 mens. It is useless for me to enter into 

 any preliminaries concerningour camp- 

 ing, fishing and collecting outfits, or 

 to give a lengthy detail of our adven- 

 tures, etc., but I will simply state that 

 we had an abundance of the articles 

 necessary on such an occasion. 



Our destination was a small wood- 

 land lying an the east bank of the Illi- 

 nois river about 12 miles south of this 

 city. The place was almost surrounded 

 by marshes, with the river on one side. 



We arrived at this place about 11 



