THE MALE RUBY-THROAT. 149 
wood, perhaps. But, if so, why did I hear 
nothing from her, as I passed up and down? 
Again my hour and a half had been spent to 
no purpose. 
Not yet discouraged, I returned the next 
morning. For the three quarters of an hour 
that I remained, the hummer was not once 
out of the ash-tree for five minutes. IJ am 
not sure that he left it for five minutes alto- 
gether. As usual, he perched almost with- 
out exception on one or other of two dead 
limbs, while a similar branch, on the oppo- 
site side of the trunk, he was never seen to 
touch. A Maryland yellow-throat alighted 
on one of his two branches and began to 
sing, but had repeated his strain only three 
or four times before the hummer, who had 
been absent for the moment, darted upon 
him and put him to flight. A little after- 
ward, a red-eyed vireo alighted on his other 
favorite perch, and he showed no resent- 
ment. The day before, a warbler had sat on 
the same branch which the yellow-throat now 
invaded, and the hummer not only did not 
offer to molest him, but flew away himself. 
These inconsistencies made it hard to draw 
any inference from his behavior. During 
