68 
THE CONDOR 
I Vol. Ill 
April 28, which is very early as they 
usually do not arrive before June i, and 
it contained fifteen fresh eggs. The 
nest was placed in a bunch of wire 
grass fully 500 feet from water and was 
very well built of fine wire grass and 
lined with a few feathers (not down) 
apparently from the breast of the bird. 
This nest was very well concealed. 
I took my second set on May 5, con- 
sisting of ten fresh eggs; third set May 6, 
containing seventeen eggs, slightly in- 
cubated; fourth set, May 13, containing 
fourteen fresh eggs, and the fifth 
set on May 14, containing eleven eggs, 
incubation advanced. All the nests 
were similar to the one found April 28, 
except the one on May 13 which con- 
tained no feathers, but all were well 
built, ver}^ well concealed and ranged 
from thirty to thirty-five feet from the 
water. 
Mr. Smith informs me that he has 
found nests of this species in grainfields 
fully one-half mile from water, which 
goes farther to prove that we may look 
forward with no serious apprehension 
to the Fulvous Tree Duck becoming ex- 
tinct, now that they are returning to 
the old and time-honored mode of incu- 
bation and have given up the idea of 
co-operative colonies. 
Oakland, Cal. F. S. Barnh.^rT. 
# ® ® 
Capture of a Floresi’s hummingbird at 
haywards, Gal. 
O x FEB. 20, 1901, the first re- 
turn movement of bird-life from 
the south began at Haywards, 
Cal. About four o’clock in the after- 
noon of that day numberless humming- 
birds began to buzz around a ma.ss of 
flowering aloes, which bore long spikes 
of vermillion-colored flowers. I first 
noticed five male Calypte anna 
the honey from the tube-like blossoms 
with apparent enjoyment, and they 
were presently joined by a male Selas- 
phoriis alleni which I shot. 
A half hour later I saw what, at first 
glance, seemed to be a hybrid — appar- 
ently a Rufous-like Anna’s Humming- 
bird. The rufous-edged tail and under 
wing coverts showed a bird of which I 
knew nothing. Soon I had it in hand 
and was more puzzled than ever by its 
crimson or rose-red lielmet and throat 
patch. I at first took it to be X. platy- 
ccrcns, but upon comparison my speci- 
men proved rich in coloring beyond any 
hummingbird I had ever collected, and 
subsequent examination proved the 
bird to be none other than the Floresi’s 
Hummingbird {Selasphorns fiorcsii). 
It has been suggested that this spring 
capture of X. floresii'm California would 
indicate that the species is a summer 
resident of .some portion of the Pacific 
Coa.st, but no female of the species hav- 
ing yet been recorded, its breeding 
range remains to be yet determined. 
Mr. Robert Ridgway mentions that 
this species of hummingbird is so rare 
that only two known examples have 
been recorded, both males, and that the 
female, as also its range and breeding 
habits, are unknown. 
Mr. Gould described the type speci- 
men as having been found at Bolanos, 
Mexico, by Mr. Floresi who gave it to 
George Loddiges, Aug. ii, 1845, the 
specimen being now in his collection. 
My specimen corresponds fully with 
Mr. Ridgway’s description and is a 
male in full adult plumage. No data is 
given with the specimen recorded by 
Mr. Walter E. Bryant in Forest & 
Stream. (XXVI, p. 426), so we are in 
the dark as to what time of the year his 
specimen was taken in California. 
W. Otto Emerson. 
Haywards, Cal., March /, igoi. 
I. Report U. S. Nat. Museuin, I890, p. 
w ® 
Forrest S. Hanford of Oakland, Cal. left 
April 30 for Carson City, Nevada., via. Placer- 
ville. Mr. Hanford will travel leisurely from 
the latter place to Carson City over the Lake 
Tahoe road, collecting enroute, and will join 
F. J. vSteinnietz, the well-known Carson orni- 
thologist, on a summer's outing. 
) 
