290 



THE OOLOQIST 



received with shrieks of disapproval 

 by the parent birds. 



On another ocacsion, about twelve 

 years ago I found a Kingbird's nest 

 wedged in the iron floor grating of an 

 arc light tower 125 feet, which stands 

 in a corner of an intersection on a 

 main street. Nest was also compos- 

 ed of string and rags, one in particu- 

 lar being a strip of red flannel about 

 three feet long and one inch wide 

 which was occupied by three young 

 and I marvelled, as everyday the trim- 

 mer changed the carbon points on the 

 five arc lights but I guess he was 

 careful not to disturb the nest. 



June 21st, '06, I found hanging 

 from a branch of a gum tree about 

 eight feet up the nest of an Arizona 

 hooded Oriole, which undoubtedly had 

 never been completed as a California 

 Bush tit had taken possession and had 

 added the top and left the usual tiny 

 opening about one and one half inches 

 from the top of the nest. It was of 

 the usual material; lichen, cob webs 

 and cocoon except the lower part, 

 which was woven of the yellow fibre 

 of the palm, the work of the Arizona 

 hooded Oriole. Nest contained a fine 

 set of seven eggs, slightly incubated. 



Two nests of the Black-chinned hum- 

 mingbird collected in May and June, 

 '08, both are of the double-decker va- 

 riety, that is, the new nest being built 

 on the shriveled and blackened last 

 year's nest. Composed of yellow wil- 

 low, cotton and cobwebs, no lichen 

 used, which gives the nest the appear- 

 ance of a small sponge. This breed- 

 ing place, a dense clump of willow 

 covering a space of y± mile in the San 

 Diego river bottom, is an ideal home 

 for my little friends as I have found 

 as many as sixteen or twenty nests in 

 the course of a day's hunt. From three 

 to six feet above ground, they will be 

 found on willow twigs usually hang- 

 ing over a narrow trail and often 

 nests and eggs are ruined by horses 



and cattle brushing against them. 



In July, '08, I noticed an unusually 

 large Hawk's nest about thirty feet 

 up in a large cottonwood and decided 

 to get a photo as it was easy to climb 

 and great was my surprise when I 

 flushed a Mourning Dove from the 

 center of the bulky mass of sticks, 

 and there lay two very badly incubat- 

 ed eggs. I have found two or three 

 nests of this dove on the ground in 

 grain fields but as a usual thing they 

 can be found from four to twelve 

 feet up in bushes or trees and the 

 nest at that is merely a platform of 

 sticks that most birds would disdain 

 to roost on. 



April, '09, I found a nest of Vigors' 

 Wren in an old tomato can that was 

 bottom up on a four foot lath, left 

 there by somebody to mark one corner 

 of a lot. Nest was of the usual mater- 

 ial, fibres and feathers, and a few 

 dried pieces of snake skins. In my 

 rambles I have found as many as 

 twelve or fifteen nests of this wren 

 and always have I found a strip or 

 two of skin discarded by some snake 

 in the early spring. 



April 10th, '01, my friend, also a 

 collector, found a nest of a Valley 

 Quail in a dense clump of scrub oak. 

 Foundation of nest seemed to be a 

 last year's nest of the California 

 Thrasher which was eighteen inches 

 above the ground. He obtained a 

 photo (by a little brushing) of the 

 nest, which contained fourteen eggs. 



C. S. Moore. 

 San Diego, Cal. 



A New Friend. 



After watching for eighteen long 

 years, the migration of the Stork, at 

 last this bird has alighted upon the 

 chimney of our friend Isaac E. Hess, 

 leaving with him a little daughter. 

 This will be good news to his orni- 

 thological friends, and to him we ex- 

 tend our congratulations. 



