MY BLUE GUM GROVE. 217 



bird outside had used dull green weeds, while 

 this one used beautiful shining oak stems. I 

 thought the pretty bird would surely be safe here, 

 but one day when I called, expecting to see a 

 growing family, I was shocked to find a pathetic 

 little skeleton in the nest. 



One afternoon in riding down the rows, I came 

 face to face with two mites of hummingbirds 

 seated on a branch. Their grayish green suits 

 toned in with the color of the blue gums. It 

 was a surprise when one of them turned to the 

 other and fed it — the mother hummer was small 

 enough to be taken for a nestling ! She sat be- 

 side her son and fed him in the conventional 

 way, by plunging her bill down his open mouth. 

 When she had flown off, he stretched his wings, 

 whirred them as if for practice, and then moved 

 his bill as if still tasting the dainty he had had 

 for supper. He sat very unconcernedly on a low 

 branch right out in the middle of the road, but 

 Billy did not run over him. 



I found two hummers' nests in the eucalyptus 

 during the summer. One builder was the one 

 the photographer was fortunate enough to catch 

 brooding ; her nest, the one so charmingly placed 

 on a light blue branch between two straight 

 spreading leaves, like the knot between two bows 

 of stiff ribbon. 



The second nest was on a drooping branch, and, 

 to make it stand level, was deepened on the down 



