RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD 337 



escape the conclusion that he was searching for a female, since the habit was 

 immediately discontinued upon the arrival of a female at the station on May 

 80th. Now, for a period of about a month, his attention was devoted to the 

 female and consisted of the usual zooming before her whenever she appeared. 

 * * * On July 2nd a male and a female were seen facing each other in the 

 air about eight or ten inches apart, ascending and descending vertically to a 

 height of about ten feet, and occasionally dropping to the ground for a moment. 

 At other times their flights were more or less spiral in character, and such 

 exhibitions were frequent up to July 7th, when Mrs. Whittle observed a pair 

 drop to the ground beside our driveway, where copulation took place. From 

 this time on the males were seen zooming only occasionally, and vertical flights 

 ceased entirely after the first week in July. * * * 



Mating, in the ordinary sense of the word, that is, pairing ofC well in advance 

 of nest-building and continuing during nidification and raising of the young 

 birds, as far as any evidence observable at this station is concerned, appears not 

 to take place. No preference for a male on the part of a female is indicated 

 until just prior to egg-laying, a period seemingly of three or four days. I have 

 found no evidence that a male's interest in a female one day is manifested 

 towards the same female the following day. All the pretty ways common among 

 many species of mated pairs, often lasting two months at least, are entirely 

 lacking among Hummingbirds. The male appears to be a free lance whose 

 intimate interest in the female is confined to the short period just before and 

 during egg-laying. 



Nesting. — The hummingbird's nest, "a model of artistic workman- 

 ship," Torrey (1892) calls it, is a little compact mass about an inch 

 deep and an inch across, firm in texture, lined with soft plant down, 

 and covered over on the outside with tiny bits of lichen. It is com- 

 monly saddled on a limb, usually a small, down-sloping one, often 

 near, and sometimes directly over, water. Wilson (1831) aptly de- 

 scribes the nest when viewed from below as "a mere mossy knot, or 

 accidental protuberance." 



Aretas A. Saunders (1936), who made an extensive study of the 

 hummingbird in New York State, describes the situation of the nest 

 thus: 



In Allegany Park, the nesting site seems to be always along a brook valley, 

 and in most cases the nest is on a limb that overhangs the brook. Eight nests 

 that I have seen in Allegany Park were on limbs less than an inch in diameter, 

 and one was on a limb a little more than a quarter of an inch through. The 

 limb, In my experience, always slants a little downward from the tree. It is 

 never so high in the tree that it is not sheltered above by other limbs or leafy 

 branches. • * * 



I do not suppose that the proximity of the brook has any particular signifi- 

 cance in the Humming Bird's nesting except that its favorite fiowers grow along 

 the brook and the stream affords an open space. * * * 



The [small] size of the limb and its downward slant seem to be aids in pro- 

 tection against possible tree-climbing enemies * ♦ * 



The protection from above is possibly to screen the nest from flying enemies, 

 but chiefly to protect it against heavy storms ♦ * ♦ 



Various kinds of trees are used for nesting, but in Allegany Park the ma- 

 jority of nests found have been in Hornbeams. Of the 11 nests I have observed, 

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