Mar., 1912 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
/ / 
male being very rarely if ever seen after incubation commences. Incubation takes a period 
of from nine to ten days and seemingly starts with the first egg, since in several nests 
watched the eggs did not hatch the same day, but were usually one day apart. In one 
instance, however, there w'as an interval of over twm days betw'een the hatching of the two 
eggs. The eggs are two in number, white, and a set taken as typical measures .52 by .32, and 
.52 by .35 inches. 
Fig. 28. FEMALE COSTA HUMMINGBIRD; NEST IN OAK 
TREE AT ESCONDIDO, MAY, 1911 
The young when first hatched look like a couple of black bugs ; but they grow very fast 
and in from ten to fourteen days they leave the nest. They are for a time far from self- 
supporting. It is difficult to determine just how long they are dependent on their parents. 
The wonderful construction of the nest is shown by seeing twm youngsters almost as large 
as the old bird occupying the same nest ; the nest does not break but keeps expanding to 
make room as it is needed. — J. B. Dixon. 
Early Nesting of Allen Hummingbird at Santa Barbara. — The past winter has been 
nnnsually warm and dry in southern California, and so far 1912 has been like mid-summer. 
Consequently 1 was not surprised, while walking np one of our many little canyons, to find 
a nest containing tw'o well inenbated eggs of the Anna Hummingliird (Calypfc anna). This 
was on Febrnary 10, so 1 certainly was surprised, some hundred yards farther along, to 
come upon an Allen Hummingbird (Sclasphorus allcni) gathering nesting material. The 
nest was soon located, about six feet np in a tiny live-oak, and upon returning on the 13th 
1 found it to contain tw'o fresh eggs. Only a short distance from this one I found another 
nest of allcni on the 13th containing two slightly inenbated eggs, while on the 14th Mr. W. 
Leon Dawson found still another that was ready for eggs. These last two nests were in 
very typical situations, in blackberry vines that hung suspended over a steep bank on the 
edge of a running stream. It may be of additional interest to state that the middle of Feb- 
ruary has previously been my earliest record for the Allen Hummer in its arrival from the 
south. — J. H. Bowi.ES. 
