146 THE SECOND BOOK OF BIRDS 
exactly like the branch it is on. So it is very 
hard to see. 
It takes a hummingbird several days of hard 
work to make a nest, because she can bring only 
a little at a time. She does it alone too; her 
mate has not been seen to help her at all. 
I think the male ruby-throat does not help in 
the nest-building because the little mother will not 
let him. She knows just how the cradle is to be 
made, and she doesn’t want him to bother her. 
She likes to have her nest to herself just as she 
likes to have her honeysuckle to herself. I don’t 
say positively that is the reason, you know; I 
only guess it is. 
After the nest is made, and two eggs about as 
big as small beans are laid, the hummingbird 
begins to sit. When the nestlings come out of 
the egg, they are about the size of honey bees, 
with bills no larger than the head of a common 
pin. Twenty-one days they stay in the nest and 
are fed by their hard-working little mother. 
When the twins get their feathers, and their 
bills are growing longer and longer, they sit up 
across the top of the nest, side by side. Then 
they are very pretty, and not at all afraid of 
people. They will let one gently stroke their 
backs. They will even answer in a soft murmur 
one who talks to them. 
