oss cup torn
and dangling from its branch. It was the keenest disappointment of the
nesting season, and there had been many. The pretty acquaintance to
whose renewal I had looked forward so many years was now ended.

Again I had to leave California without being able to name my winning
little friends. If I had been too much interested in them before to set
a price on their heads; now, rather than raise my voice against them,
they should remain forever unnamed.[4]

FOOTNOTE:

[4] Since this paper was written, I have consulted an authority on
nests, who thinks that this nameless bird was probably Hutton's vireo.

XII.

HUMMERS.

CALIFORNIA is the land of flowers and hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are
there the winged companions of the flowers. In the valleys the airy
birds hover about the filmy golden mustard and the sweet-scented
primroses; on the blooming hillsides in spring the air is filled with
whirring wings and piping voices, as the fairy troops pass and repass at
their mad gambols. At one moment the birds are circling methodically
around the whorls of the blue sage; at the next, hurtling through the
air after a distant companion. The great wild gooseberry bushes with red
fuchsia-like flowers are like bee-hives, swarming with noisy hummers.
The whizzing and whirring lead one to the bushes from a distance, and on
approaching one is met by the brown spindle-like birds, darting out from
the blooming shrubs, gleams of green, gold, and scarlet glancing from
their gorgets.

[Illustration: The Little Hummer on her Bow-Knot Nest.

(From a photograph.)]

The large brown hummers probably stop in the valley only on their way
north, but the little black-chinned ones make their home there, and the
big spreading sycamores and the great live-oaks are their nesting
grounds. In the big oak beside the ranch-house I have seen two or three
nests at once; and a ring of live-oaks in front of the house held a
complement of nests. From the hammock under the oak beside the house one
could watch the birds at their work. If the front door was left open,
the hummers would sometimes fly inside; and as we stepped out they
often darted away from the flowers growing under the windows.

California is the place of all places to study hummingbirds. The only
drawback is that there are always too many other birds to watch at the
same time; but one sees enough to want to see more. I never saw a
hummingbird courtship unless--perhaps one