138 THE MALE RUBY-THROAT. 
nine, after watching each a short time, prob- 
ably not more than an hour or two in any 
ease. Of the remaining three, I visited one 
three or four times at various hours of the 
day, another only twice, the third but once. 
Two of the three contained young when 
found. The third was supposed to have 
young, also, but could not be examined with- 
out danger to its contents. I have never 
seen a male hummer anywhere near a nest, 
either before or after the eggs were laid, 
but, as you will gather from the above brief 
data, my experience has not been extensive ; 
and in the old days, when most of my nests 
were found, the methods of close watch- 
ing now in vogue were unthought of. In 
the light of the testimony to which you re- 
fer, I should conclude, with you, that the 
male hummer must occasionally assist in 
the care of the young, but I am very sure 
that this is not usually, if indeed often, the 
case.”’ | 
Mr. H. W. Henshaw reported a similar 
experience. He had found four nests of the 
ruby-throat, but had seen no male about any 
of them after nidification was begun. “I 
confess,” he says, “that I had never thought 
