The Costa Hummer 
Taken in Ventura County Photo by D. R. Dickey 
RIVALS 
WE VOTE FOR THE HUMMER 
completely lost to sight. This, to me, is the most astonishing part of 
the whole performance, this heavenly swagger with which our Lothario 
leaves the stage. Perhaps he has received some sign of the lady’s dis¬ 
favor, or perhaps, as is more likely, he must quench his fires in a cooler 
atmosphere. 
One would suppose that such gallant attentions should gain a 
life-long affection. So careful an observer as Frank Stephens narrates 1 
one instance where a male Costa was allowed to assist in building a nest. 
The resplendent fellow gathered in a spider’s web and then betook him¬ 
self to a distant structure on a sycamore limb, which the observer had 
not seen before. Perhaps the very ease with which the observer dis¬ 
covered the secret is nature’s reason for dispensing with the services of 
the male. Anyhow he is a nuisance. 
The lady whose portrait is next shown was discovered on two fresh 
eggs in a weed patch near the San Jacinto River. Returning in the 
afternoon with photographic gear, we found the lady not at home. But 
while we wondered, a lively scrimmage broke out near at hand. A pair 
of hummers were at it hammer and tongs, though whether in a friendly 
1 Bendire, Life Histories, Vol. I., p. 203. 
