riley] CALIFORNIA'S TREE ISLANDS 223 



When the mate is at last won the nesting site is chosen and build- 

 ing begins. A humming bird's nest — miracle of workmanship — 

 is hung almost anywhere. We have found them in the branches 

 of the tree or among its roots, now in a swaying palm leaf or 

 among the bristling desert cacti. The nest building is apparently 

 left for the female and how well she does her work is seen in any 

 collection of these nests. Some are made of plant down orna- 

 mented with bits of lichen, leaf, and moss, others built of plush 

 from the sycamore leaves and all held together with fluffs of the 

 spider's silk or silken cocoons. The inside of the shallow cup 

 is lined with down and tiny feathers. 



When the young hatch they are no longer than bees and are 

 naked while their black knob-like eyes and wide, yellow-rimmed 

 mouths are then prominent features. They grow surprisingly, 

 doubling their size in two days while in four days they are down 

 covered. In twelve days features are formed an4 at the end of 

 three weeks they are ready to venture from the nest which has 

 become so crowded one wonders how they manage to ptay in it at 

 all. 



All this has meant strenuous work for mother. She feeds them 

 almost without pause and how she manages we often wonder. 

 Standing on the edge of the nest, she stabs her long bill into the 

 depths of the tiny birds until instinctively we look expectantly 

 to find it piercing the bottom of the nest. However she knows 

 just where to stop while we expect to see her lift her bill with the 

 wee thing spitted as for roasting. Soon they are ready to care 

 for themselves and dart away to add to nature's jewels. 



California boasts of its black-chinned violet hummer, its green 

 and ruby Anna, its leaf brown and copper Rufous and Allen, its 

 Costa and daintiest of all hummers, the Calliope. 



California's Tree Islands 



Dolores Riley 



Our California Coast is indeed interesting to the casual traveler 

 and especially noted among tree lovers for its many local species. 

 Most of these are isolated groups, found along the Coast of Lower 

 California, and are known as tree or arboreal islands. 



The Monterey region is one of the best known examples of 

 such an island. Here we find the Monterey Pine, confined to a 



