July, lyul I 
I'lil-, CUNUOK 
I ()i 
Two Amusing Incidents. 
O x SATURDAY I-ebruary 22, 
1896 occured tlie iirst of what I 
have denominated ‘‘two amusing 
incidents.” It relates to an exj^erience 
that I had, on that date, with an Anna’s 
Hummingbird {Calvpte aiina). I 
happened to be collecting in a large 
dense grove of eucalyptus trees in this 
county, and in one of these I discovered 
a nest of the above species. On my 
shaking the tree the female flew off the 
the nest, which was placed on a very 
thin limb and about fifteen feet from 
the ground. The main trunk of the 
tree was so thin and frail that I was 
compelled to climb another and strong- 
er tree that grew some fourteen feet 
away, in the direction in which the 
horizontal limb pointed. I ascended 
this latter tree until 1 was on an even 
height with the nest and, reaching out 
with my right hand, I pulled the branch 
on which it was placed to me, and 
grasped the end thereof with my left 
hand. The female had alighted on the 
nest while I was climbing and still re- 
mained thereon. I shook the branch 
vigorously but the bird, undismayed, 
paid no attention whatever to me until 
I placed my hand within two or three 
inches of her, when she snapped at me 
ferociously several times. It was not 
until I had actually taken hold of the 
mandibles and lifted the bird from the 
nest that I was able to discover two 
fresh eggs therein. 
But this is not all: while I was re- 
moving the eggs the hummer kept buzz- 
ing and darting around in close prox- 
imity to my head. After the eggs had 
been taken from the nest the female 
immediately flew back onto it and was 
determined to .stay there. Being de- 
sirous of procuring the nest, I reached 
over the bird and severed the limb be- 
tween the ne.st and the trunk. In 
my doing this the nest became com- 
pletely inverted but still the persistent 
little hummer clung to it, and when I 
dropped the detached limb the bird re- 
mained on the nest, which was still in 
this inverted position, for fully teu feet 
of the fall, when she finally released 
herself and flew off. 1 have had con- 
siderable exijerience with hummers and 
have often noted the bravery of these 
birds, especially Anna’s, but I must con- 
fess that this was the bravest and most 
persistent one with which I ever met. 
My second topic relates to an ex- 
perience of mine with a California 
Screech Owl (Megascops asio bendirei). 
Under date of May 9, 1897, my note 
book reads as follows; ‘‘An amusing 
incident occured during my trip today. 
1 discovered a natural cavity in an old 
oak stumj), which 1 considered would 
be a fitting receptacle for a set ot 
vScreech Owl’s eggs. Walking up to 
the stump I projected a stick into the 
hole about two feet, when a female 
Screech Owl flew out and disappeared 
through the trees. I soon became 
aware that the stump was occupied in 
the upper .story by a colony — and a 
large and warlike one it was — of honey 
bees, one of the beasts trying his best 
to alight on the end of ni}’ nose and 
place a wart thereon. This meant that 
I niirst retreat to safer quarters. I was 
convinced that the cavity contained 
either eggs or young and was reluctant 
to leave without ascertaining what the 
contents were. But the bees were so 
thick and wild that I determined to 
wait until my return homeward in the 
evening by which time I supposed 
that the bees would be inside and 
would not bother me. We continued 
on our journey and had not proceeded 
one hundred feet from the stump, when 
we observed Mrs. Owl perched on a 
dead oak limb in a dazed condition — 
asleep I suppose. One of the boys who 
was with me took hold of the bird and 
she then barely opened her eyes and 
lay perfectly numb in his hands. Two 
bees were found . on the mandible 
evidently trying to sting her. One of 
her eyes was badly blood-shot and she 
was apparently a very sick owl. She 
remained entirely senseless in the hand 
