ZOOLOGY. 
165 
Nest. — Diameter of cavity at entrance 10 lines. 
Depth at the centre " 
Diameter of the tvJioIe nest across the top 2 inches. 
Height of the toliole nest 1 inch 5 lines. 
Eggs, two; ivhite, nearly equally blunt at both ends; weight of both eggs, about 13 grains — 
i. e., about 6^ grains each, although there was a slight difference in their sizes. Length of each, 
about 5^ lines. Transverse diameter, nearly 4 lines. They were almost hatched. The nest, 
with its contents, I sent to the museum of the Smithsonian Institution. 
Measurement and notes concerning particular specimens obtained in 1856, at Fort Steilacoom, 
Puget's Sound, Washington Territory: 
April 11. No. 311. 8. rufus. $ . Length, Vj\; extent, 4|. From tip of bill to angle of 
eye, | of an inch. 
April 18. No. 312. S. rufus. $. Length, 4^'^; extent, 4|. Bill to angle of eye, |. 
Weight of bird, 45 grains. 
April 28. No. 330. 9. Length, 3|; extent, 4-ii. Bill, |. Bill larger than usual. Bright 
metallic luster on the collar as before noticed. (Vide Nuttall's querys.)— S. 
The Nootka humming bird is very abundant in Washington Territory, reaching the Straits 
of De Fuca as early as March 17th, when I saw them in considerable numbers. They seem to 
follow the blossoming of the red-flowered currant, which abounds in the fir forests, and is the 
first to open in abundance enough to supply them with food. This begins to bloom at the 
Columbia river about March 10. 
In appearances and habits this bird much resembles the ruby-throat, from which the female 
and young are difficult to distinguish. But the male, besides its peculiar livery, has a very 
remarkable habit when a stranger or wild animal approaches its nest, and even at other times, 
of rising to a great height in the air and then darting down perpendicularly, producing a hollow 
rushing sound, (called "bleating" by Nuttall,) analogous to that made by the night hawk in a 
similar manner, but of a sharper tone. In both cases it is probably produced by the wings. 
I never obtained but one nest, which was built on a small bush a few feet from the ground, 
and was composed of hairs and cotton-like vegetable materials. It contained nothing at the 
time. In July, there being few flowers in the lower country, they seek the mountain summits, 
and I found them abundant in August at a height of 5, 800 feet above the level of the sea, 
where, at the same time, ice formed nightly at our camp. They all leave the Territory in 
September, and, I think, winter in California, where I saw humming birds in December feeding 
among the blossoms of another species of flowering currant, then also the harbinger of early 
spring. — C. 
Family CYPSELIDAE. The Swifts. 
CHAETURA VAUXII, DeKay. 
Oregon Swift. 
Cypselus vauxii, Townsend, J. A. N. Sc. VIII, 1830, 148, (Col. river.) — Ib. Narrative, 1839. 
Chaetura vamii, DeKay, N. Y. Zool. II, 1844, 36. — Baird, Gen. Rep. Birds, p. 145. 
Acanthylis vauxii, Bonp. Comptes Kendus, XXVIII, 1854; notes Delattre, 90. — Cassin, 111. I, 1855, 250. 
Newberry, Zool. Cal. and Or. Route, 78 ; P. R. E. Surv. VI, 1857. 
Sp. Ch. — Light sooty brown; rump and under parts paler ; lightest on the chin and throat. Length, 4.50 inches; wing, 
4 75 ; tail, 1.90. 
Hab. — Pacific coast, from Puget Sound to California. 
