THE HUMMING-BIRDS’ PICTURES. 103 
Every day the mother bird was adding more web and 
lichens and pampas tufts, turning about gently and 
rapidly to shape the nest around her. 
We have never seen any birds except the hummers 
who add to their nests during incubation and after the 
young are hatched. On the twentieth day of January 
the first egg was hatched. We stole up to look, and 
there at the bottom of the small cradle was what 
looked like a tiny black grub, perfectly bare. We im- 
agined the mother was very happy and thinking in 
her dear little heart how much the baby resembled its 
father. 
The father, as is the custom of the males of these 
humming-birds, was away in the foothills sucking 
sweets from the mountain flowers, and leaving to his 
mate all the care of the household. It seems very sel- 
fish of him, but the mother bird may be very glad to be 
without him. What does a father hamming-bird know 
about taking care of such tiny babies ? 
One day later than its mate the other egg was 
hatched, and there were a pair of black, bare grubs. 
They had no bills, except a tiny point in the middle 
of the mouth, which they kept open in a coaxing way. 
_ They could move nothing but their heads, and their 
eyes were shut tight. How carefully the mother fed 
them. Many a time, looking on at meal-time, we were 
tempted to caution the mother lest she thrust her bill a 
little too far down the small throats. She winked her 
black eye at us, while we stood with uplifted finger, 
