91 

 MOSS-COVERED HOMES. 



Ruby-throated Hummingbird. 



Hummingbirds are creatures of the New World. About 

 five hundred species are found in North and South America. 

 They range from Alaska to Patagonia^ being most numerous 

 in northern South America and in Central America. Only 

 sixteen species out of this great number are known to have 

 occurred in the United States and but a single species^ the 

 Ruby-throated Hummingbird, is found east of the Missis- 

 sippi River. 



I have always been greatly interested in these "gems." 

 In fact, when I was but eight years of age, my interest in 

 them led me to capture one in a butterfly net as it flew about 

 the flowers in the garden. I thought I had a most wonder- 

 ful prize, but I am glad to say that my parents quickly in- 

 duced me to release it. As usual with all ornithologists at 

 that time, my early investigations were made chiefly from 

 a covetous standpoint. Much was learned, but knowledge 

 so gained does not compare in value with that obtained when 

 the possessive instinct is ignored. 



There is a very prevalent idea that Hummingbirds subsist 

 entirely upon the honey or nectar of flowers; such a diet 

 would soon ruin the digestive organs of any kind of bird or 

 beast. As a matter of fact, nectar forms a very small per- 

 centage of hummingbird food. Instead of sipping the 

 honey from the flowers they visit, they usually are engaged 

 in the very useful occupation of eating the many tiny in- 

 sects that gather in such places. It is well known that most 

 flowers that secrete nectar are partially or wholly dependent 

 upon certain insects to carry pollen from one blossom to the 

 stigma of another and so efl'ect cross-fertilization; these 

 useful insects are usually large, long-tongued ones like bees, 

 moths and butterflies. So in destroying the tiny insects, 

 hummingbirds perform a service to the plants by removing 

 pilfering insects that do no good, and to mankind also. 



