THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



not l)een collected by an}- naturalist that I 

 am aware. The eggs, too, oi Micro pus viel- 

 anoleuais are unknown to me " (page 481). 



More than a dozen years ago an imperfect 

 set of five fresh unblown eggs of the 

 White-throated Swift were presented to me 

 by a young man in Contra Costa county. 

 They were taken from a nest in a crevice 

 in the back of a tunnel-shaped cave in the 

 side of a cliff about twenty feet above the 

 base. In color the eggs are pure white, 

 narrowly elliptical in form, but rather 

 smaller at one end. They measured: .87 x 

 .53; .88 X .53; .88 X .52; .86 x .50; the 

 fifth was too much damaged to measure 

 accurately. The eggs were collected on 

 June 6, 1878. Walter E. Bryant. 



Oakland, Cal. 



Cuckoo and Flycatcher Notes. 



DEAR Editor of the NidiologisT: — I 

 see by the last number of The Nidi- 

 ologisT a note of the California 

 Cuckoo having been seen near San Jose, 

 and of nests being found there and at Wat- 

 sonville. 



I think as the country becomes more 

 thickly settled, such forms of bird-life as 

 are now considered rare with us will be- 

 come more common, as their surroundings 

 are more fitted to give them protection. 



Twelve years ago I took a specimen of 

 the California Cuckoo here at Haywards, 

 Have not noted them as being seen since 

 about here till this summer, the latter part 

 of July, when I heard one several times 

 along the San Eorenzo creek bordering our 

 orchard, oflf and on for two weeks. No 

 doubt they will be found breeding about 

 here, as will other forms of bird-life we 

 now are calling rare. It is protection we 

 want for our bird-life. For example, I 

 have had a pair of Western Flycatchers 

 (E. difficilis) come for the last three sun'i- 

 mers to nest on top of the caps of the 

 porch posts and bring forth two nests of 

 young every year. Ea.st season a Califor- 

 nia Screech Owl made its midnight meal 



oflf the first brood. Then Mrs, Flycatcher 

 tried again on another post, but could not 

 get materials to stick — kept rolling oflf, till 

 I put up a small box, which she soon filled 

 with a nest. She did the same this year. 

 First brood came oflf all safe, but second 

 nest would not stick. More litter was all 

 over the porch floor than would fill a cherry 

 box. I put her up a cigar box, and in 

 three days she was sitting. The only 

 young {one) of this second brood left the nest 

 August 16. So endeth this third year's 

 crop of Western Flycatchers. 



Haywards, Cal. Otto Emerson. 



Prolific Breeding of the Rufous 

 Hummingbird. 



WHILE searching for a stray brood of 

 turkeys among some tall meadow- 

 grass on the 4th of July, my atten- 

 tion was attracted by the actions of a pair 

 of these Hummingbirds, that seemed to 

 have a nest on a row of cypress trees clo.se 

 by. It was about two minutes before I 

 found the nest, about 5 feet from the 

 ground. In it was a fully fledged young 

 bird that flew out soon after my approach. 

 It flew in a horizontal line about fifty feet 

 and poised in the air for several seconds, 

 and gradually fell from its aerial position to 

 the ground. Upon being caught and re- 

 placed in the nest, it clambered out and re- 

 peated the performance. I have seen this 

 performance gone through with before by 

 several species of young Hummingbirds 

 taking their first flight. Upon examina- 

 tion the nest proved to be a "double 

 decker," being built over the previous one 

 and at a slightly different angle, and con- 

 tained two fresh eggs. Oliver Davie says in 

 his book that "all Hummingbirds breeding 

 in California are said to rear two broods in 

 one season, "and he is correct as far as the 

 Rufous, Allen's and Anna's Humming- 

 birds are concerned. I have found nests 

 early in March at Alameda and well into 

 June, among them several of these "double 

 deckers." Taking the extra early records 

 of Hummingbirds breeding in January and 

 February and the extra late records of July 

 into consideration, some of these birds may 

 'have reared three broods in one sea.son. 



Alameda, Cal. 



D. A. Cohen. 



