Hummingbird SONGLESS BIRDS. 



Nothing, however, is more picturesque than these Swifts 

 as they circle above the wide stone chimney of some haK- 

 ruined house, where the garden is overgrown by old lilacs^ 

 and great banks of the fragrant bushes hide the crumbling 

 walls. I know of such a place, only a few miles away, 

 where the Swifts curve and eddy above the huge chimney, 

 bent with the weight of years, in such perfect accord and 

 rhythm, now wholly disappearing within, now curling forth 

 in a cloud, that it is easy to imagine the fire burns again 

 upon the hearth and that the birds are but the columns 

 of hospitable smoke. 



In wild districts the Swift retains the habit of nesting in 

 hollow trees, the custom it must have followed until com- 

 paratively recent times in this country, as the Indians never 

 possessed even the ghost of a chimney. These trees are 

 used after the breeding-season as roosts, and there is evi- 

 dence that the birds may sometimes winter in them in a 

 state of hibernation. In building its nest the Swift snaps 

 little twigs from the trees, and in fixing them in place 

 braces itself in the chimney by means of its claws and the 

 sharp spines in which its tail feathers terminate. Its size is 

 nearly the same as the Bank Swallow and the two flock 

 prior to the autumn migration at about the same time, the 

 Chimney Swift being the last to leave. 



FAMILY TROCHILID^: HUMMmGBIKDS. 

 Ruby-throated Hummingbird: Trochilus colubris, 



Plate 2. 



Length : 3.75 inches. 



Male: Above metallic green; belly white. Wings and tail ruddy 

 black, the latter deeply forked. Glistening ruby-red gorget. 



Female : Colours less iridescent ; gorget lacking, tail with rounded 

 points. 



Note : A shrill, mouse-like squeak. 



Season : Common summer resident ; May to October. 



Breeds : From Florida to Labrador. 



Nest : A dainty circle an inch and a half in diameter, made of fern- 

 wool, plant-down, etc., shingled with lichens to match the 

 colour of the branch on which it is saddled. 

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