THE HUMMING-BIRDS OF CHOCORUA. 265 



1893, whenever I visited this orchard, which I 

 call " No. 4," I found a male and a female ruby- 

 throat in attendance upon it. 



In July and August, 1890, while watching 

 sapsuckers at what I called orchards " No. 1 " 

 and "No. 2," I found that some woodpeckers 

 adopted an entirely different method of dealing 

 with humming-birds from that practiced by 

 others. At orchard No. 1, the woodpeckers 

 drove away a humming-bird with a marked dis- 

 play of anger whenever one showed itself near 

 the large red maple which was being taj^ped. 

 At orchard No. 2, on the contrary, the sapsuck- 

 ers allowed the ruby-throats to drink at drills a 

 few inches from their own bills, and resented 

 only marked impertinence on the part of their 

 tiny visitors. At No. 1, scores of visits were 

 paid by humming-birds every day, but they 

 reached the drills in a comparatively small num- 

 ber of instances. When they did gain them 

 they drank long and deeply, often perching 

 upon the bark and drinking while their nervous 

 wings were motionless. At No. 2, it seemed im- 

 possible to estimate the number of humming- 

 birds in attendance. I went so far as to shoot a 

 male and a female in order to feet certain that 

 more than one pair of the tiny birds came to the 

 drills. Nine minutes after my second crime a 

 third humming-bird was quietly drinking at the 



