Hummingbirds WESTERN BIRDS 



with spider webs, and saddled onto a twig, or some sup- 

 port, from a few feet to twenty from the ground. In 

 some species the outside is decorated with lichens and, 

 in any case, so blends with the support as to look like 

 a knot, or part of it. Though varying in size, many of 

 them are about one and one-half inches at widest part 

 by one inch deep. Two bean-like white eggs are laid 

 and brooded for two weeks. The little mothers are not 

 close sitters, often buzzing away and staying a few min- 

 utes before returning, when they come back, flying like 

 mad, but settling gently over the treasures, which she 

 turns, twists, and kicks with her tiny claw-like feet, be- 

 fore getting them arranged to her liking. 



Oftentimes the first egg is laid when the nest is quite 

 shallow and the bird builds it up as she broods. The 

 second egg is usually laid two days after the first, and 

 the young hatch two days apart, the oldest leaving the 

 nest at least one day before the other. They stay in the 

 tiny cup three weeks, and when ready to fly forth have 

 grown to such a size that they more than fill the little 

 nest, and often seem in danger of falling out. Some- 

 times this does happen, but if you try to take one of 

 them from the nest you will find that the tiny claws are 

 used to good advantage, and that baby hummer has them 

 firmly clasped into the little home. 



If you have never seen a newly-hatched Hummingbird 

 you still have something for which to live. Not for one 

 moment could one imagine that so beautiful a creature 

 as a mature Hummingbird could develop from the black 

 shiny bugs that hatch from those eggs. Two little lines 

 of black, hair-like appendages grow on each side of the 

 back, otherwise black skin covers the body. The places 

 for eyes are protruding bunches, and one end is almost 

 as pointed as the other. Surely, some one has played a 

 joke on Madam Hummingbird and substituted insects for 

 those spotless eggsl 



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