332 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



to hide the moss, which looks to me like the down from willow catkins. Two 

 eggs are laid to a set, and probably two broods are raised in a season. 



At the other end of the breeding season, Josiah H. Clark (1900) 

 found a nest on February 16, 1899, near Las Vigas, Veracruz, Mexico, 

 in a canyon at an elevation of about 4,500 feet, of which he writes these 

 interesting circumstances : 



On February 12 we had snow, with the thermometer down to 32° F. at 4 p. m., 

 and on February 13, at 7 a. m., down to 29° F. All the plants and trees were 

 covered with ice, and the leaves of almost everything were killed; we found 

 many frozen birds, and that was the fate of the owner of this nest. We only 

 had two cold days, but that was enough to destroy many birds. 



The nest was fastened to a vine one tenth of an inch in diameter and about 

 three feet above a small stream of water. The vine hung from a large rock, 

 and would have been sheltered from rain by the overhanging rock. The nest 

 is of bulky structure, and is perhaps a new nest built on top of an old one. 

 It is composed of fine moss massed together, and bound with spiders' webs or 

 similar material. It measures, outer diameter, 2% inches, depth 4 inches; 

 inside diameter, li/4 inches, depth, % inch. There is very little lining, only 

 enough for the eggs to rest on, consisting of down from some fern. 



Eggs. — The only two sets of eggs of this hummingbird of which I 

 have any record consisted of two eggs each. The eggs are indis- 

 tinguishable from those of the Arizona race, dull white and elliptical- 

 oval. The measurements of the only egg I have been able to locate, 

 in the United States National Museum, are 16.26 by 12.45 millimeters. 



The food, behavior, voice, and general habits of this subspecies do 

 not differ materially from those of the Arizona race. 



ARCHILOCHUS COLUBRIS (Linnaeus) 

 RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD 



Plates 53-57 



HABITS 



Contributed by Winsor Mabrett Ttleb 



The ruby-throated hummingbird is the only species of hummingbird 

 that enters the eastern two-thirds of the United States. A minute 

 spritelike bird, scarcely bigger than a good-sized insect, it is white 

 below and burnished, sparkling green on the back. The adult male 

 has a gorgeous flaming throat, which, when the sun strikes it, flashes 

 back a deep, glowing orange or red. 



The hummingbird moves its wings with such extraordinary 

 rapidity that it seems to be moving through the air between two 

 wisps of mist. Its buzzing wings hold it steady in the air. We see 

 it poised before a flower, most often alone, its body motionless, its 

 tail swaying, as firmly fixed in space as if it were standing on a 

 perch. We see it dart adroitly from one blossom to another, and 



