92 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 9-No. 8 



female Hummers buzzing around and utter 

 ing angry chirps'.' ' ■ Seeing so many, I 

 thought a more thorough examination of 

 the surrounding vines would pay. In a 

 few minutes I had discovered another nest 

 built on the root of what is called here 

 ''Oregon Grape." The bird was incubat- 

 ing, but the instant my eye fell on her she 

 darted off, but, like the first, soon returned 

 with her companions and began giving me 

 her opinion of the case. This nest was 

 out in plain sight, but closely resembled 

 the surroundings. It was composed like 

 the others and contained two eggs on the 

 point of hatching. 



A third nest was discovered about forty 

 feet further on in an overhanging black- 

 berry vine. This nest was to me some- 

 thing new. It was built on the top of an 

 old one, and the two so neatly blended to- 

 gether that I did not discover the old nest 

 until after I got home. It had a few bits 

 of green moss woven into the white cotton 

 on the rim, and contained one fresh egg. 



On May 14th, I discovered another nest 

 on a small oak about sis feet and a half 

 from the ground. It was composed like 

 the others and had a few pieces of green 

 moss among the light colored lichens ; it 

 contained two fresh eggs. 



On June 8th, I again visited the railroad 

 cut and found two more nests, both in 

 blackberry vines. One contained two young 

 just hatched, the other two fresh eggs. 

 These five nests were not over forty feet 

 apart, and I think if I had looked more 

 carefully I could have found more. 



On June 11th, I was following a pair of 

 JPyranga ludoviciana, and while passing 

 through a thick patch of ferns about four 

 feet deep, a female Hummer darted out 

 close in front of me. Knowing that she 

 had a nest near by I began to look for it, 

 expecting to find it in some of the low 

 bushes. But on parting a very thick bunch 

 of ferns, I was very much surprised to see 

 it on one of the large broad leaves. The 

 leaf was bent over and the nest built near 



the end, about two feet from the ground, 

 so overhung by ferns and tall grass that it 

 was the prettiest and at the same time the 

 strangest j>lace for a Hummingbird's nest 

 I ever saw. It was composed as usual of 

 "cotton" covered with light colored lich- 

 ens, and to all appearances fastened to the 

 fern by spider's silk alone ; it contained 

 two eggs, incubation just begun. 



My last nest was discovered on June 

 16th. While walking through a grove of 

 small oaks a Hummingbird flew past me 

 and acted in a way that led me to believe 

 she had a nest near by. A few minute's 

 search discovered it in an oak about seven 

 feet from the ground in plain sight. As 

 I wished to see how the habits of this bird 

 compared with those of the Ruby-throat, 

 I withdrew about twenty feet and sat 

 down to watch. The bird returned in a 

 few minutes, but seeing me still there, be- 

 gan to fly around me at a distance of about 

 twenty- five feet, alighting on every tree, 

 eyeing me an instant, then darting away 

 again. After about five minutes of this 

 manceuvreing she flew up to the tree con- 

 taining the nest, paused just in front of it 

 an instant, then darted away again. This 

 was repeated several times, but at last she 

 approached from the opposite side and 

 settled down on the nest. Her manner of 

 alighting was very much like that of the 

 Ruby-throat described by "E. M. H." in 

 O. and O. for May. She flew up until di- 

 rectly over the nest, paused an instant, 

 then suddenly closing her wings, dropped 

 into it, then after eyeing me a moment, 

 she began to settle herself into position. 

 I put her off several times and each time 

 the manoeuvre was rej>eated in very much 

 the same way. Once I think she just 

 touched the rim of the nest with her feet, 

 and then dropped down and into position. 

 When she was incubating, her tail and bill 

 were pointed straight up, and they were so 

 close together that they almost touched. 

 The nest was composed as usual and con- 

 tained two fresh eggs. I shot this bird. 



