HUMMERS. 149 



times fly inside ; and as we stepped out they often 

 darted away from the flowers growing under the 

 windows. 



California is the place of all places to study 

 hummingbirds. The only drawback is that there 

 are always too many other birds to watch at the 

 same time ; but one sees enough to want to see 

 more. I never saw a hummingbird courtship 

 unless — perhaps one performance I saw was part 

 of the wooing. I was sitting on Mountain Billy 

 under the little lover's sycamore when a buzzing 

 and a whirring sounded overhead. On a twig sat 

 a wee green lady and before her was her lover (?), 

 who, with the sound and regularity of a spindle 

 in a machine, swung shuttling from side to side 

 in an arc less than a yard long. He never turned 

 around, or took his eyes off his lady's, but threw 

 himself back at the end of his line by a quick 

 spread of his tail. She sat with her eyes fixed 

 upon him, and as he moved from side to side her 

 long bill followed him in a very droll way. When 

 through with his dance he looked at her intently, 

 as if to see what effect his performance had had 

 upon her. She made some remark, apparently 

 not to his liking, for when he had answered he 

 flew away. She called after him, but as he did 

 not return she stretched herself and flew up on 

 a twig above with an amusing air of relief. 



This is all I have ever seen of the court- 

 ship ; but when it comes to nest-building, I have 



