148 



Bird -Lore 



the cover, the tiny thing opened its eyes and ruffled its feathers exactly as 

 if it had just awakened from a good night's rest, as I think it had. 



That day it began flying about. I took it with me from room to room and 

 let it fly at will. In each room it had a certain place for alighting to rest from 

 its flights. In the dining-room, its perch was always the piece of wire cord 

 upon which the other had alighted, and always, it seemed, in the exact spot 

 where it had first rested. In the sitting-room, it always perched upon the frame 

 of a picture over the mantel, and always in the same place on the frame. In 

 my chamber, the mirror frame, always the left-hand corner, was its perch. From 



these resting-places it would 

 make its humming excursions, 

 pausing to investigate any flow- 

 ers which might be in the room, 

 or flying about in circles until 

 tired, when it would return to 

 the perch to rest. But, best of 

 all, it loved to have me hold it 

 and talk to it, and it would sit 

 on my palm and look at me 

 exactly as if it understood me. 

 I talked to it so much that it 

 came to know my voice, and 

 would cry loudly if I remained 

 too long silent, ceasing its cry- 

 ing at once when I spoke. If I 

 left the room, leaving the bird behind, it would cry until I returned, when 

 it would ruffle its feathers and eye me in silence. It was not long before, 

 if I placed my hand beside it on the table, palm upward, it would put its 

 breast against the side of my hand, and, lifting itself and seeming to push 

 with its short tail, would get into my palm and there nestle cosily, looking 

 at my face with its bright little eyes. The problem of feeding the tiny 

 creature had puzzled me for a time. It seemed to me that it could not 

 possibly obtain enough nourishment from the few flowers which it visited, 

 so I made a syrup of sugar and water. Of course, I knew it would not be likely 

 to feed from a saucer, so I hit upon the idea of using a medicine dropper, one 

 of the rubber-bulb sort. Into this I drew some of the syrup and, making a 

 little chirping sound, I held it up. Instantly the Hummer flew to me, and pois- 

 ing, inserted its bill in the dropper and began to eat the sweet fluid, its tiny 

 tongue moving swiftly, projected half an inch beyond the end of its bill, as 

 could plainly be seen through the glass sides of the dropper. I raised my 

 thumb toward the tiny body, when down came the little feet and rested securely 

 upon it. After that, I had only to hold up the dropper, when it would come 

 instantly and perch upon my thunib. In this position I photographed it, 



HUMMINGBIRD FEEDING FROM A 

 MEDICINE DROPPER 



