SONGLESS BIRDS. Hummingbird 



Eggs : 2, pure white, the size of soup-beans. 



Bange: Eastern North America to the Plains, north to the Fur 

 Countries, and south, in winter, to Cuba and Veragua. 



This is the only native Hummingbird of eastern North 

 America, and it is impossible to confuse it with any other 

 bird in its range. 



When the late tulips and narcissi are blooming in the 

 garden, and you hear a tense humming near them, varied 

 by an occasional squeak, you know, without looking, that 

 the Hummingbirds have come. All through late May they 

 dart here and there, now among the flowers, and then disap- 

 pearing high up in the trees, searching for both honey and 

 aphides with their proboscis-like tongues, while their move- 

 ments exceed in dash and rapidity even the Swallows and 

 Swifts. They seem merely to will to be in a certain spot, 

 and they are there without effort. 



With June they settle in or near the garden, where 

 the roses and honeysuckle supply them with nectar and 

 ambrosia, and this is the season to study them. Late after- 

 noon, between six and seven o'clock, is the best hour, for 

 they are taking their supper, and the sun being low behind 

 the trellis its rays shoot sidewise and bring out all the 

 metallic splendour of their plumage. The adult birds seldom 

 perch, but, drawing up their tiny claws, pause in front of 

 the chosen flower, apparently motionless. But the hum 

 of the wings tells the secret of the poise. 



The parents jam their bills far down into the little gap- 

 ing mouths, placing the food in the throat itself, — an 

 effective but barbarous looking operation. 



The nest is worthy of the bird, but is rare in comparison 

 with the number of birds that are seen every year. There 

 are two reasons for this; it blends so perfectly with the 

 supporting branch as to be invisible when the leaves are on 

 the trees, and owing to its spongy composition, it seldom 

 retains its shape for any length of time. 



Various nesting-sites are chosen, and in the garden I have 

 found them, in different seasons, on a horizontal cedar bough, 

 a slanting beech branch, a sweeping elm branch over th^ 



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