July, 1882.] 
AND OOLOGLST. 
Notes from California. 
I think the hardy little Anna Humming¬ 
bird has got the start this year of the 
Hawks in nesting. They have taken ad¬ 
vantage of a warm spell this month to 
nest earlier than usual. Dr. J. G. Cooper 
notes in his work of the birds of this coast 
that about San Francisco they have young 
by March 15th. This nest was brought to 
me by a little fellow from town. He found 
it in a cypress tree in a church yard. He 
had been shooting Hummers with a sling 
shot, and had frightened this one from her 
nest, Feb. 22d. The nest I have before 
me, containing two fresh, pearly eggs, is 
composed of, outside, bits of bark, moss 
and the stamens from the blue gum tree 
blossoms, with bits of lichens fastened on 
with spiders’ webs; inside of thistledown 
with a few bird feathers. It measures 
across the top If inches, depth inside f of 
an inch ; outside, inches ; across the 
bottom. If inches. The nest was placed 
on the top of a limb seven feet from the 
ground. Last year a friend of mine fpmid 
a nest March 24th. The House Finches 
have commenced to nest. I was out shoot¬ 
ing the day after New Year’s and got a 
Short-eared Owl—which I took alive and 
kept for some time—American Rough-leg¬ 
ged Hawk, Marsh Hawk, AVestern Red¬ 
tailed. Shoveller and Spoonbill Ducks, and 
three Rocky Mountain Bluebirds.— IF. (). 
Emerson, Ilayvxirds, Cal. 
Ornithology in the Ark. 
The Old Testament gives no details of 
life within the ark. To imagine a few of 
them will nowadays hardly be thought ir¬ 
reverent. Every orthodox, at least, must 
believe that ornithology dates back to the 
earliest history of man; for Adam named 
all the aninials (though probably he didn’t 
catalogue them as Novam-yenns Adami, 
Eras), etc., with Adam printed as author¬ 
ity after every name. 
Let us imagine, then. Ham and Japhet 
sitting together in the ark. AVhat a won 
13‘) 
derfully interesting gathering of birds this 
is ! says Japhet. 
Yes, says Ham, that’s why I’m working 
on this dart. 
Good heavens! says Japhet. You’re 
not going to shoot them 
Of course I am, says Ham, contemptu¬ 
ously. In the first place I shall never 
again have such a chance to collect; and, 
secondly, the sjiecimens are in such per¬ 
fect condition that every one of ’em ought 
to be in a cabinet. Then you must con¬ 
sider that this is a most extraordinary 
Fauna ; that many of the sjiecies have 
never been obtained in this locality before : 
and that our records of them won’t be of 
any value unless we can prove our identifi¬ 
cations. There’s just a pair all round ; and 
we must secure them and label them as 
fast as possible. 
But Ham, you forget, says Japhet, that 
I want to study them alive, and to have 
them live and midtiply. It’s ridiculous to 
tell me that I can’t positively recognize 
the birds aboard this boat, and make 
friends of them. ’Twould be a shame to 
kill them. 
The dispute began to wax hot, when 
Noah, overhearing, interrujited and said : 
“ My children, leave the birds alone, for 
they are sacred to the Lord.” And it 
came to pass that it Avas a bird which first 
brought them the olive-branch of jjeace, 
the message of salvation. 
The ark has jjassed away, and most of 
the belief in it ; and the sacredness of 
Nature has become a mere song. But, just 
supposing that the story of the ark were 
literally true, and that Ham had made his 
scientific collection wdiile on that memora¬ 
ble voyage, where would living ornithol¬ 
ogy be to-day ? AVoiAld it be satisfied 
with his complete museum, preserved (let 
us fancy) at Jerusalem, or im})orted by 
Barnum to New York?— OrnithoUyi-cusis). 
Capt. Chas. E. Bendire, so long stationed 
at Fort Walla Walla, is to make his head- 
(juarters atFoj-t Klamah. Lake Co.. Oregon. 
