May, I'M 2 
AX AFTERNOON’S FIELD NOTES 
lO.S 
of first-hand precision, will always lie in the original record. Xo matter what 
l)lan of indexing the information therein contained, may be subsequently put into 
effect, my original narrative notes are always retained intact, and preserved with 
the greatest solicitude. 
(ilendora, Los Angeles County, California, i\Iay 5, 1907: 12:45 p. m. — 1 am 
alone on the back end of S. W. Wood’s orange ranch at the edge of a wa.ste acre 
or so of land near the Little Dalton which is still running quite a stream. T just 
saw a Black-chinned Hummer episode: I first saw a female pursued by a male 
into a thick low bush, where she alighted completely hidden. The male then 
proceeded to buzz back and forth before her within three feet of her. in the arc of 
a pendulum of not more than three feet chord. At the same time he uttered a 
deep buzz augmented at the middle of the swing. After about twenty of these 
swings, each occupying one second, he mounted up in the air about fifty feet and 
dove down in a far larger pendulum swing, arising to an equal height on the other 
side to repeat. At the bottom of the swing he uttered an augmented metallic 
quavering rattle. After repeating this maneuver twelve times he made off to a 
nearby Nicotiana where he fed from the pendant blossoms without further inter- 
est in the female, whom I lost sight of. 
12:55 — I am in sight of a male A’alley Quail stationed about ten feet up on 
the topmost strong-enough branch of a Xicotiana. He is “hollering", the single 
loud yell, like a child’s shout at a distance. Two other quail, one up, the other 
down the Dalton, are answering at intervals. I have not heard the regular quail- 
call of three syllables. The quail that I am watching “hollers" at following inter- 
vals : 1-3-3-6-4-6-5-12-5-5-5-6-8-10-3-9-7-4-9-8-6-13-3-5-4-5-9-7-5-6-9-5-5-6-5-6-9- 
5-5-7-4-8-7-7-6-11-6-8-4-4-3-6-7-5. Jn the above, the dashes represent the call, the 
numeral the number of .seconds, by my watch, intervening. The other two quail 
have been calling at very similar intervals, and all have been keeping up the per- 
formance since 12:55 (it is now 1 ;7). 
1 :13 — There is a profusion of a tall maroon-colored Pentstemon. Just saw 
a male Black-chinned Hummer rapidly visiting each flower around a spike. A 
male Lazuli Bunting is singing its hurried shrill song from the top of 
an oak. The bird is about seventy feet from me in an air line, perched composedly 
in a hunched-up attitude. Lie sings at following intervals (seconds) : — 10-18-15- 
13-11-12-10-11-11-13-19-11-12-13-13-12-11-9-12-13-13. A Long-tailed Chat is 
singing from the brush along the creek, his rambling incoherent series of whistles, 
chucks and squawks. 
1 —5 — The quail is .still at it. I heard him make several explosive sounds a 
while ago like a turkey gobbler. These were uttered in rapid succession in sput- 
tering fashion. A male Costa Hummingbird just fiew close to me. feeding about 
the Pentstemons. A male Pileolated Warbler is investigating a pile of weed-over- 
grown orange brush nearby. All the vegetation is very rank, weeds growing up 
as high as my head on undisturbed ground. 
1 :33 — A male Costa Hummer was just going through his mating perform- 
ances : and I am not at all sure there was any female beneath to warrant the 
energy spent. Lie mounted up, slowly rising to fully 200 feet (almost out of 
sight), then swung down with marvelous swiftness nearly to the ground (lj4 
feet I should say), rising up more slowly to an equal height to repeat. In his 
downward swoop he uttered a swelling shrill note of piercing' quality and con- 
tinuous of tone, this dying out on the upward part of the swing. He repeated this 
