THE HUMMING-BIRDS’ PICTURES. 101 
flowers. It may be seen about the petunias and the 
honeysuckle and the nasturtiums. ‘There is plenty of 
sweet at the end of these trumpet-like flowers which 
the bees cannot reach with their shorter tongues. 
It was the Anna’s Hummer which we photographed 
last year on purpose to put the pictures in this book, 
that those who do not have humming-birds nesting in 
their yards, or where they can study them, may see 
just how they look. 
We have no snow storms here, but in their place are 
long, cold rain storms, with many days of bright, warm 
weather between. Flowers bloom all the time, and the 
humming-birds see no reason why they should not 
attend to their housekeeping. It is as if they thought, 
“Now this storm is over, we will build our cradles,” 
never once thinking of the possibility of there coming 
another storm before the birdlings are out of the nest. 
We were walking about in the yard one bright morn- 
ing late in December, when a humming-bird poised 
herself above some pampas grass and stole a single 
tuft. This pampas grass sends up its long spikes of 
plumes in midsummer, and we always leave a few of 
them on purpose for the birds to get for their nests. 
They are very dusty and weather-beaten by winter, but 
that makes no difference, for the little separate tufts 
are good for crib beds. 
When we saw the bird at the pampas grass, we knew 
that she was nesting, so we watched her. She flew to 
a low shrub near the path and left the tuft. Then she 
