THE MALE RUBY-THROAT. 151 
know, so far as the mere fact of distance was 
concerned; but here again an intervening 
wood must have cut off all visual com- 
munication. If his mate and nest were 
not within view from his ash - tree perch, 
what could be the meaning of his conduct? 
Without some specific constraining motive, 
no bird in his normal condition was likely 
to stay in one tree hour after hour, day after 
day, and week after week, so that one could 
never come in sight of it without seeing him. 
But even if his nest was in the immediate 
neighborhood, the closeness and persistency 
of his lookout are still, to my mind, an ab- 
solute mystery. Our female bird, whether 
she had eggs or offspring, made nothing of 
absenting herself by the half hour; but this 
male hardly gave himself time to eat his 
necessary food; indeed, I often wondered 
how he kept himself alive. Is such a course 
of action habitual with male hummers? If 
so, had our seemingly widowed or deserted 
mother a husband, who somewhere, unseen 
by us, was standing sentry after the same 
heroic, self-denying fashion? These and all 
similar questions [ must leave to more for- 
tunate observers, or postpone to a future 
