36 NEBRASKA ORXITHOLOGISTS' UNION 



elevating- the camera, I foujTd it necessary to tip the nest quite sharply 

 to obtain a photograph, and at first moved with great caution for fear 

 of nj)setting the little one; hut I soon became convinced that it would 

 take care of that matter. I removed the infertile egg" and gave little fur- 

 ther attention to the angle of the nest. T had left the egg thus long for 

 fear the parent bird would resent any change at my hands. Koom was 

 becoming valuable with the growth of the little one, however, and 

 with an available space only three-fourths of an inch in diameter 

 and one-half inch deep there was none to spare for the egg. In fact, 

 as the growth of the bird continued, it became to me more and more 

 a matter of wonder that two young humming-birds can possibly share 

 so small a nest — two being- invariably the number of eggs deposited. 



I ventured to take the young bird from the nest for the purpose of 

 photographing it upon my finger, to haA'e an adequate means of con- 

 veying an idea of its tiny proportions. I bent down the branch and tied 

 it securely, so that I might use both hands; but even then I felt much 

 as a jew^eler might if he were to attempt to handle the delicate parts 

 of a watch with his fingers. With an ever-present fear of a fall, the 

 little one clutched the bottom, of the nest, and brought away two 

 tufts of the silken lining. It was too young to perch, but clung bravely 

 to my forefinger with a little aid from me in balancing. To my regret, 

 I heard the mother bird's wings the instant I exposed the plate. She 

 dashed wildljr about the nest several times looking for her young, 

 then flew away over the treetojis. I repaired the rumpled lining with 

 as little delay as possible and replaced the young bird in the nest, with 

 guilty visions of a xn-ovoked desertion and a hungry little Hummingbird 

 vainly waiting, then withdrew to a more distant i^oint than usual. I 

 recalled all the iDicturesqiiely absurd stories of birds — hiimmingbirds 

 in particular, as I remembered on this occasion — dropping dead when 

 their nests were discovered; or poisoning themselves and perhaps the 

 whole family if the eggs or young were touched, and spent a very 

 anxious ten minutes trying to assort the true from the false and await- 

 ing develoiiments, when the mother bird returned and promptly re- 

 sumed her duties. 



The little one was very active and bright, frequently turning- about 

 in the nest and moving- its wings to different positions. Once it 

 stretched its neck straight above the nest to its full extent, and held 

 it so for over a minute. 



After office hours on the 7th I started for the nest — a six-mile street- 

 car ride and a two-mile walk from the end of the line. The young Huni- 

 mingbird had grown remarkably. I was greatly surprised to find that the 

 feathers of the back, even at so early an age, had a distinctly greenish 

 cast, with the iridescence quite marked. The breast and imder parts 

 were whitish and the throat white. The tail had grown i^erceptibly; 

 the middle feathers were black and the outer feathers broadly tipped 

 with white. There were two distinct touches of white about the eyes. 



