May, 1918 FROM FIELD AND STUDY 123 



Probably a number of individuals of this species have been shot at various times 

 in the years gone by, but there are very few labelled specimens in museums or collectors' 

 hands from this state. Most of those shot have been mistaken, as was the one taken by 

 Mr. Pond, for a cross between an American Widgeon (Baldpate) and a Pintail or a Cin- 

 namon Teal. The back of the male bird is a good deal like that of a Pintail, while the 

 red of the head and neck resembles that of a Cinnamon Teal, with the rest of the bird 

 closely approaching the American Widgeon, so that the idea of some such cross is nat- 

 urally suggested to the mind of any one unfamiliar with the European Widgeon. — 

 Joseph Mailliaed, San Francisco. February 9, 191$. 



Another Reference to Early Experiments in Keeping Hummingbirds in Captivity. 

 — In The Coxdor for September, 1917, p. 168, I called attention to the experiments made 

 by Adolphe Boucard in San Francisco in 1852 in keeping hummingbirds in captivity. 

 Boucard remained in San Francisco from August 16, 1851, to August 18, 1852, and then 

 returned to France via Nicaragua and New York. He states that he collected many spe- 

 cimens of Selasphorus rufus and CaJypte anna, that at one time he had as many as sixty 

 of them alive, and that some of them lived four months. 



With these facts in mind it is interesting to compare the following statement by 

 Bonaparte in his "Notes sur les collections rapportees en 1853, par M. A. Delattre, de son 

 voyage en Californie et dans le Nicaragua". 



"M. Delattre has brought back from California, with their nests their eggs, and 

 their young, two Hummingbirds, Selosphorus ruber Edw. [==£. rufus'] and S. anna Les- 

 son. By force of care he was able to keep in cases for seven or eight months a very large 

 number of these delightful little beings which he had raised himself and on the habits of 

 which he was able to make interesting observations which we shall not undertake to pub- 

 lish." (Comptes Rendus, xxxvm, April 3, 1854, p. 660.) 



From other sources we learn that Delattre 1 left France in January, 1851, on a sail- 

 ing vessel bound for California and that he reached San Francisco six months later 

 (probably in August), after rounding Cape Horn. He returned via Nicaragua and reached 

 home in the early part of 1853, and since he collected hummingbirds' nests, and eggs, he 

 must have secured them in the spring of 1852, as he arrived in California after the sea- 

 son of 1851, and evidently left before thf nesting season of 1853 in order to stop in Nica- 

 ragua and still reach Paris in the first half of that year. 



It is very probable that the statements of Boucard and Bonaparte refer to the 

 same or at least to simultanpous experiments. It is very unlikely that two French or- 

 nithologists should both conduct experiments in raising the same species of humming- 

 birds in San Francisco in 1852 and not know of each other's work. Boucard apparently 

 does not mention Delattre, and the latter who never wrote very much, died shortly after 

 liis return, three months before Bonaparte's statement was published. When it is re- 

 called that Boucard and Delattre both reached San Francisco by sailing vessel in Aug- 

 ust, 1851, and returned via the Nicaragua route in 1852, that Boucard was only a boy of 

 12 when he sailed and consequently rather young to undertake extended collections on his 

 own initiative, while Delattre was an experienced collector 46 years of age, it seems 

 more than likely that they were traveling together. In fact it is highly probable that on 

 this, his first trip, Boucard was working under the direction of Delattre from whom pos- 

 sibly he acquired some of that interest in hummingbirds which became so marked in 

 later years. If this surmise is correct it may throw some light on the region where De- 

 lattre collected in California. Boucard intimates that most of the year was spent in the 

 neighborhood of San Francisco. That so experienced a collector of hummingbirds as De- 

 lattre secured nothing except Selaspliorus rufus and Calypte anna indicates that he did 

 not work in the mountains or in southern California, and the birds actually brought back 

 could all have been obtained in the immediate vicinity of San Francisco or Monterey. 

 Among other specimens collected was the type of Passerculus alaudinus. Under these 

 circumstances it is perhaps reasonable to fix the type locality of this latter species as the 

 vicinity of San Francisco Bay. Certainly the entire list of California birds obtained by 

 Delattre should be re-examined critically in the hope of obtaining further light on the 



Pierre Adolphe Delattre, often mentioned simply as "A. Delattre", was born in 

 Tours, France, February 12, 1805, and died at Nice, France, January 3 1854, at the age of 

 49. He was an energetic explorer and traveling naturalist who devoted special attention 

 to collecting hummingbirds. Between 1S31 and 1851 he made several expeditions to Am- 

 erica, 



