THE RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD 



By MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT 



%^t JBattonal Si00otiation ot Audubon ^ocittitQ 



EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 56 



When the cherry blossoms have fallen and the buds in the tumbled-down 

 ■old apple orchard are showing pink tips, when the gold-and-black Baltimore 

 Oriole is calling plaintively to his belated lady-love, and the rich song of the 

 unseen Rose-breast falls from the tree-tops, — with a whirr and a flash, a jewel 

 ■set in a bit of iridescent metal- work slants across the garden, and we say with 

 bated breath, "The Hummingbird has come." 



In this case, the has a very definite meaning ; for in the length and breadth 

 ■ of the country that lies between the Mississippi and the Atlantic, and from 

 Florida to Labrador, there is but one species of Hummingbird, that of the 

 Ruby-throat. (The twilight flying creature so often mistaken for a Humming- 

 bird is, in truth, a hawk moth.) Though there may sometimes be several pairs 

 in a comparatively small area, the Hummingbird, like the Eagle, prefers to 

 .live alone, and never at any time of the year follows the flocking habit of other 

 birds. 



When a pair of Hummers first make up their minds to share your garden, 

 you will have many chances to watch them before nest-building makes them 

 more elusive. The Hummingbird has the reputation of being constantly on 

 the wing; but, in reality, it is only so while it is collecting food, either the honey 

 from flowers or the small aphis with which it feeds its young, and it spends 

 • quite as much time in perching as any other bird. Dead twigs of hemlock or 

 Norway spruce make favorite perches here in my garden, and it often seems 

 .as if the dainty little thing chose the twigs with conscious regard to the color- 

 protection of his surroundings, when, lol he is off again, and this times perches 

 in the open on a taut wire, where the light plays on every ruby feather of his 

 gorget, making him conspicuous out of all proportion to his size. 



While he rests thus, preening first one wing and then the other, it is a 

 -fine chance to study the bird in detail — the upperparts feathered in glistening 

 green, with metallic tints of purple and blue upon wings and tail, and the won- 

 derful ruby throat, separated from the dull gray-green breast by a line of light. 

 From the end of his needle-like bill to the tail-tip he measures a trifle under 

 three and one-fourth inches, while the wings that make the resonant hum, 

 suggesting the motive power of a machine rather than of a bird, measure 

 -only about one and a-half inches on either side of the body. Truly this is our 

 "least" bird, the competitor for this honor being the pert little cinnamon 

 iDrown Winter Wren, that measures a trifle over four inches, and the con- 

 jfiding Golden-crowned Kinglet of the yellow-bordered orange crown, olivace- 



(i86) 



