J^otes from Jfteld and ^tudp 



Two Young Hummingbirds 



On May 25, 1900, I found a Humming- 

 bird's nest in a small beech, on a branch 

 about ten feet from the ground, and with 

 the aid of a step-ladder was able to keep 

 watch of the incubation of the eggs and 

 growth of the young birds. 



The nest was just finished, for the first 

 egg appeared the next day, and by the 

 28th both eggs were there. Two weeks 

 from the day it was laid — on June 9th — 

 the first egg hatched and the other egg the 

 day after. The little things bore slight 

 resemblance to most young birds, for as 

 they lay flat on the bottom of the nest, 

 with necks outstretched, they were a little 

 less than an inch in length, dark slate- 

 color, with a little yellowish fuzz on the 

 bodies, exceedingly thin necks, three- 

 cornered heads and short yellow bills. 

 The eyes were closed. 



Two days later the fuzz had grown so 

 that the bodies were nearly hidden by it, 

 though the heads were still bare, and the 

 bills were almost twice their original 

 length. On June 18, when the first- 

 hatched bird was nine days old, I noted 

 the following: "The young Humming- 

 birds nearly fill the nest. They are much 

 browner than at first, and the fuzz does 

 not seem to have grown much, if any. 

 They have, however, quantities of tiny 

 pin-feathers like needle-points, on the 

 heads as well as the bodies, and the bills 

 are nearly a third of an inch in length. 

 The eyes are still closed." Four days 

 later both had their eyes open and a few 

 of the pin-feathers were breaking. 



Until nearly ready to fly the growth was 

 so rapid — especially of the bills — that the 

 difference was easily noticeable from day 

 to day, while two days made a decided 

 change. And before they were many days 

 old the younger of the pair caught up in 

 size so that the difference between them, at 

 first so pronounced, was entirely lost. 



(i 



For several days before leaving the nest 

 the birds were well feathered and well 

 grown, showing the head and white throat 

 over one edge of the nest and the white- 

 cornered tail at the other, but up to the 

 last day the bills looked to me not quite 

 full length. They flew the first day of 

 July, having been twenty- one and twenty- 

 two days in the nest. 



A week or two later began a great deal 

 of chippering and love-making in the vi- 

 cinity of the old nest, and July 21 I found 

 a second nest, no doubt built by the same 

 pair, in another beech almost touching the 

 first tree, but in too inaccessible a position 

 for close observation. 



At no time did I see the male near 

 either nest. 



In this neighborhood Hummingbirds 

 seem to build almost always in beeches, 

 for of nine other nests found not far from 

 these two, seven were in beech, the others 

 in oak and sweet gum. — Isabella McC. 

 Lemmon, Englen-vood, N . J. 



My Robin Neighbors 



There are two large maple trees in front 

 of my home, both within ten feet of the 

 windows of my room. One morning in 

 April, 1900, two robins attracted my at- 

 tention by Hying about one of the trees. 

 They kept flying from branch to branch, 

 and it was evident that they were looking 

 for a place to build a nest. Finally they 

 decided to build their nest between two 

 branches on a level with my window. 



They immediately began bringing dry 

 grass and pieces of straw, but the third 

 or fourth time that the male came with 

 his bill full of straw he met with an 

 accident. The place between the branches 

 was very narrow and, as he was flying in, 

 he hit against one of them and rumpled 

 both his feathers and his temper. This 

 evidently made him dissatisfied with the 

 place and tliey both flew awa)'. 



08) 



