140 BIRDS 



taking their departure into the big world beyond. (Fig. 

 68.) 



One afternoon, while prowling through an unfre- 

 quented part of Kansas City's great Swope Park, I 

 found a large bed of jewel flowers in full bloom. I paused 

 on the edge of this matchless spread of pink and yellow 

 blossoms to admire its beauty. A flash of color shot by 

 my head, accompanied by the hum of a pair of wings, 

 then another and another, until I stood in the midst of 

 a flock of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, eight of them, 

 busily endeavoring to drive the unwelcome guest from 

 the vicinity of their cups of nectar. First one and then 

 another darted above my head like feathered bullets. 

 Finally, seeming to realize that I meant them no harm, 

 they accepted my presence as of no significance and re- 

 turned to their unfinished repast. I soon discovered 

 that there were three or four families. No full-grown 

 males were present. After a few flowers had been robbed 

 of their sweets one or more of the birds alighted on a 

 certain small dead twig near the ground in the edge of 

 the flower bed. I soon had my umbrella tent erected and 

 my lens focused on the spot where the birds had been 

 resting, and in the course of two hours succeeded in 

 getting eight good negatives of this hard-to-photograph 

 bird. 



On one occasion, just as I was on the eve of making 

 the exposure of the plate, a large green grasshopper 

 alighted on the twig within two inches of the bird. I 

 quickly pressed the bulb. The Hummer, not much larger 

 than the grasshopper, looked inquiringly at the intruder 

 and in a dignified manner jumped three inches to another 

 twig, and I pictured the pair a second time. 



I examined many of the flowers in this bed for small 

 insects, but failed to find a single bug. Whether the bugs 

 had all been removed by the birds, I cannot say, but 

 anyway the birds were feeding persistently ; it must have 

 been on flower juices alone. 



These smallest of all birds are truly little comedians ; 

 their antics were very amusing as they tried to feed two 

 at a time from the same flower, or as they chased one 

 another from flower to perch, and around the sides of 

 the tent. The birds repeatedly fed so close to the slits 



