422 LAND BIRDS 



some glints of the metallic lustre of the adults. They 

 began to sit up, preen their feathers, and stretch their 

 ludicrously small wings. On the seventeenth day one 

 perched on the edge of the nest an hour, and that night 

 the mother did not attempt to brood them, but clung 

 meekly to the edge as close as they would allow her to 

 come. Evidently they " resented being sat upon," like 

 the ruby-throat described by Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller. 

 They were fed entirely by regurgitation. 



During this time the father bird had not once come 

 near the nest, but on the seventeenth day an adult male 

 hovered in the close vicinity and was repeatedly driven 

 off by the mother. Within a week after that both 

 youngsters had flown, but for many days thereafter 

 were often found perching on small twigs in the sun- 

 shine, motionless, an hour at a time. 



The nest was found to be much flattened from con- 

 stant perching upon the edges, but was as clean as when 

 newly built. The materials used were plant down orna- 

 mented on the outside with tiny bits of gray lichen and 

 small dry leaves, bound with silk from cocoons. Inside 

 it was lined with a few tiny feathers. It measured one 

 and five-eighths inches across the top and three-quarters 

 of an inch deep on the outside, but less than three- 

 eighths on the inside. This was after the brood had 

 flown and, as mentioned before, it was much flattened. 

 As we had not seen it built, we were unable to judge 

 whether or not the male assists in the construction, but 

 he certainly does not share in the incubation or care of 

 the young. 



