J^otes from JTield anD ^tuDp 



A Hummingbird That Wanted Light 



The accompanying picture shows tlie nest 

 of a Broad-tailed Hummingbird built in a 

 most peculiar situation. I presume it to have 

 been the above-named species, as that is the 

 most common one in this locality, but as 

 only the female was seen I cannot be posi- 

 tive, for the females of 

 the Broad-tailed and 

 Rufous-backed Hum- 

 mers are too much alike 

 to be told apart unless 

 one has the specimens 

 in hand. This nest was 

 built, as the photograph 

 shows, on an electric 

 light fixture on the porch 

 of a residence in Colo- 

 rado Springs. The light 

 is directly in front of 



the front door of the 

 house, and so close to it 



that the screen door, 



which swings out, comes 



within a few inches of 



the lamp when opened. 



It was July i8 when the 



picture was taken. At 



that time people were 



passing in and out quite 



frequently, and sitting 



on the porch much of 



the time, but they did 



not seem to disturb the 



bird. 

 The picture shows 



how the nest was placed 



on the fixture much better 



than I can describe it. 



In taking the picture I 



must have been at work 



over a quarter of an 



hour, but the bird^never 



budged, though I was 



fussing about with a 



step-ladder, using that 



for a support for the 



camera, in order to get somewhere near to 

 a level with the nest. Several exposures 

 were made, the longest of a minute, the 

 others less, but all were time exposures, 

 and not a single negative shows any trace 

 of the bird having moved. 



Two young were successfully reared in 

 the nest and flew away. The parent bird 

 was seen to come back 

 once after the young 

 had left, examine the 

 nest, and then depaft. 

 Possibly, of course, this 

 may have been another 

 bird attracted by the 

 sight of the nest. It cer- 

 tainly seems to be a very 

 remarkable instance of 

 confidence on the part 

 of a bird, when one con- 

 siders the publicity of 

 the location and the 

 constant disturbance the 

 bird was subjected to by 

 people passing in and 

 out, and moving about 

 on the porch. — Edward 

 R. Warren, Colorado 

 Springs, Colo. 



The Feeding Habits of 

 the Blue Jay 



In the November- 

 December, 1906, num- 

 ber of Bird-Lore, the 

 Editor offers a welcome 

 to the testimony of orni- 

 thologists from the Mis- 

 sissippi valley upon the 

 feeding habits of the 

 common Jay. It was my 

 good fortune, through a 

 period of nearly twenty 

 years, to be an interested 

 observer of bird-life in 

 that region, principally 

 along the Baraboo and 

 Wisconsin rivers. 



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