One Little Hummer and I 



By WINIFRED HULWAY PALMER, Machias. Maine 



L\'YK one suiiinur ni()rniii<i when the weather had suddenly become 

 damp and chilly, 1 heard the see/), seep, many times repeated, of one of 

 a pair of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds which had been hatched near 

 our home. Out-of-doors I ran, but there was no Hummer to be seen. Still the 

 cries continued, and, following them slowly, at last they led me to a window- 

 box full of nasturtiums, radiant with many colors. Now the cries w^ere close 

 at my feet, and there lay the little creature with eyes closed, and tiny claws 

 close-clasped about a spear of grass! 



In the house I warmed a soft cloth and folded art)und il and placed it in 

 a small pasteboard box. Its little cries had ceased, and I felt sure that the 

 warmth would soon revive it. Again I heard, fainter and farther away than 

 before, "seep, seep," over and over, sharp and protesting. 'There is the other!" 

 I exclaimed, and started in the direction whence the sound came. Past the 

 sweet peas, past the climbing nasturtiums and the clematis the crying led me, 

 until I reached the enclosed garden, at the w'est end of the house. In this 

 garden, under the hardy hydrangea, clinging to a spear of grass with tiny, 

 thread-like claws, I found it. Another soft cloth was warmed and wrapped 

 about the tiny body, and it was placed beside the first one in the box. It was not 

 long before the warmth had revived them, and I uncovered them, so that we 

 might see them. For a time, both sat quietly in the box, looking at us with 

 their bright little eyes, but showing no fear. We left them so, sitting side by 

 side in the box, only looking at them very often to see that all was well, as 

 as well as to delight our eyes with their beauty. 



Suddenly, whizl one flew to the vase of flowers and hummed about them. 

 Then around and around the room over our heads it went, alighting at last 

 on a wire stretched across a corner, to support an ivy vine. Here it sat look- 

 ing about, and presently flew again, alighting, in a short time, in the same 

 place as before. This performance it repeated again and again. Meanwhile 

 the day had brightened somewhat and become quite warm and pleasant. 

 It has always seemed to me that the place for little wild things is out of doors 

 where Nature put them. I decided that, as the little bird was able to fly so 

 long in the house, it could certainly take care of itself in its native element, 

 so I opened the door, and whiz! it was gone. It grieves me to have to tell 

 that next morning I found its little dead body in the grass, and I resolved to 

 keep the other until the weather became warmer. The one which remained 

 made no attempt to fly that day. It showed no fear of me, and would make 

 no effort to resist when I took it in my hand. It inserted its bill in the nas- 

 turtiums which I placed beside it, and rested content in its pasteboard nest. 

 I cut small holes in the box and in the cover, and at night took it to my room 

 and placed it on the stand by my bedside. In the morning, when I removed 



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