232 
Recent Literature. 
a crevice or on a ledge (perhaps in a cave), or else fixed in an angle of 
rock, where it is shaped like a sloping teacup divided vertically. The 
eggs are white. 
44. Selasphorus platycercus, Bp. Broad-tailed Hummingbird. 
— A common summer resident. I met one 2,000 feet above timber line. 
Hum very peculiar, suggesting the Cedar-bird’s note, prolonged and 
intensified, being itself intermittent, owing to the bird’s flight being 
accentuated, instead of straight and steady. 
Note. — The nests and eggs above described are now in the Museum of Com- 
parative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass. 
a&mut ilttmttmr. 
Cooper on the Migrations and Nesting Habits of West-Coast 
Birds.* — Within the space of less than a dozen pages I)r. Cooper has 
tabulated a large amount of valuable information respecting the times of 
arrival, departure, and nesting of many of the common West Coast land 
birds, based mainly on his own observations ; a few data recorded by 
others are incidentally incorporated. Dr. Cooper first discusses the in- 
fluence of temperature, of the rainy and dry seasons, upon the movements 
and time of laying of birds at different points along the coast and adjoin- 
ing interior of the Californian coast region, showing, among other things, 
that excess of rain late in spring retards the nesting period. The localities 
to which special reference is made are San Diego, Fort Mohave, Santa 
Cruz, Saticoy, and Haywood. The number of species tabulated is 73. 
The first column gives the “ season of residence, etc.” ; six other columns 
give the dates of arrival, etc. of the migrants, and the dates of nesting ; 
another column is devoted to other localities and to remarks. The ob- 
servations relating to Haywood cover the years 1875-1878; those to 
other localities cover a shorter period. Dr. Cooper has here begun a good 
work in a praiseworthy way, which it would be gratifying to see continued 
by other observers for other localities. — J. A. A. 
Langdon’s Ornithological Field NoTES.f — These notes relate to 
the bird fauna of the immediate vicinity of Cincinnati, and virtually form 
* On the Migrations and Nesting Habits of West-Coast Birds. By J. G. 
Cooper, M. D. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1879, pp. 241-251, Jan. 20, 1880. 
t Ornithological Field Notes, with five Additions to the Cincinnati Avian 
Fauna. By Frank W. Langdon. Journ. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist., July, 1880, 
pp. 121-127. 
