A Hummingbird Accident
A Hummingbird Accident
On March 25, 1940, Colonel Oscar Krupp, Commanding Officer of the government arsenal at Benicia, California, informed me of the presenee of a dead hummingbird hanging by the bill in the screen enclosing the front porch of his quarters. He took me to the scene and I took the accompanying picture (fig. 77).
With little doubt, the bird, which was a male Anna Hummingbird (Calypte anna), in attempting a transverse flight through the porch at a height of about ten feet from the ground, did not see the screening and crashed into it. The mesh of the screen was of just the right size to accommodate the long bill which was wedged therein to the base. Hummers are much in evidence about the trees and flowers of the “officers’ row” at the arsenal and the Anna Hummingbird breeds there commonly.
Emerson A. Stoner
Benida, California, June 13, 1940
