32 THE NIDOLOGIST 
the prospective nest. In working the 
material into the structure she always used 
her body as a form around which to build, 
tucking the cottony substance into the side 
and pushing it with her breast, frequently 
turning about to see if it were the right 
size all around. 
On April 12, when the nest was appar- 
ently but half finished, and little better 
than a platform with a raised rim, I was 
surprised to see an egg, which the mother 
carefully guarded as she buzzed about, still 
bringing nesting material. 
The following morning the second egg 
was added, and on one or two occasions 
the male made his appearance, and tried, 
seemingly, to coax the female to leave the 
nest, even making severalattempts to push 
her from the eggs when other means failed. 
He soon became discouraged, however, 
and departed for parts unknown, leaving 
his demure little spouse to care for the eggs 
and complete the half finished nest. 
For several days incubation progressed 
just about two minutes ata time. The 
Hummer, after arriving with material and 
building it into the slowly raising rim, 
would incubate for two minutes, seldom 
more than a few seconds more or less, be- 
tore leaving for another consignment. 
Her periods of absence were of almost 
exactly the same duration. It was not 
until incubation was more than half com- 
plete that the nest was finally finished, but 
unadorned by the usual bits of lichen. 
These were added from day to day until 
May 1, when the first egg hatched, either 
eighteen or nineteen days after incubation 
began. Owing to the unsettled actions of 
the bird on the 12th and 13th of April I 
could not satisfy myself as to when incuba- 
tion really began. 
The second egg never hatched, and after 
the nest was abandoned the broken shell 
was found buried in the bottom of the nest. 
The diminutive waif on the cypress twig 
seemed to require constant feeding and dur- 
ing its brief residence in the nest kept the 
poor little mother so busy that Iam at a 
loss to know how she would have cared for 
two. 
The feeding was entirely by regurgitation, 
and at times it seemed as ifthe mother had, 
in desperation, decided to free herself from 
so much responsibility, for after alighting 
on the rim of the nest she would aim a 
vicious stab at the wide open mouth of her 
offspring and drive her long needle-like 
bill so deep that I half expected to see it 
appear through the bottom of the nest. 
Sometimes after feeding the chick the 
mother would settle herself into the nest, 
and after getting her young hopeful well 
tucked away under her feathers, would 
reach down under her breast and administer 
another ration to the ever hungry mite. 
What the food consisted of I am unable 
to state. It would have been necessary to 
have sacrificed the life of the nestling to 
determine, and I could not bring myself to 
do that. 
On the night of the 12th, when the 
youngster was not quite two weeks old, I 
discovered that it was spending the night 
alone, and climbing up to the nest I touched 
it gently on the back, whereupon it raised 
its head and squeaked out an appeal for 
lunch, repeating the call after I reached 
the ground. About this time its food uuder- 
went a change, I think, for the parent was 
seen searching the trunks of the cypress 
trees for minute insects which she picked 
out of the crevices of the bark, whereas, up 
to that time the food had been brought from 
a distance. 
Often after searching the tree trunks for 
several minutes, and gleaning a few spiders 
from their webs in the hedge, I saw her 
alight on the telephone wire over the street 
and sit motionless for five minutes before 
coming to feed the nestling. It would be 
interesting to know if it is necessary for the 
food to undergo a slight change in her 
stomach before being given to the young. 
On the 14th, although its feathers were 
but half grown, the little Calypie began to 
be very restless, often turning about in the 
nest, preening its stumps of what promised 
to be feathers, and waving its budding 
wings. 
I oiten investigated the nest at night, 
but after the 12th never found the mother, 
nor did she spend the night in the same 
tree, so far as I could ascertain, at any rate. 
Shaking the tree, which was small, failed 
to dislodge her if she were there. 
The young bird grew more and more 
restless from day to day, sometimes stand- 
ing on the rim of the nest and waving its 
wings as if contemplating instant depar- 
ture. 
It was not till the morning of May to, 
however, that he really left, and without 
even waiting to say good-bye. When I 
looked at the nest at 7 o’clock in the morn- 
ing it was empty, and upon going out to 
ee a 
