About the House. 



67 



With its lustrous green back and metallic ruby throat the male is certainly 

 magnificent, and his mate, scarcely less beautiful, is very like him, save that 

 she lacks the gor- 

 geous throat patch, 

 and has a more 

 rounded tail. 

 Young birds are 

 very like the fe- 

 male, the males 

 having the throat 

 streaked with dus- 

 ky feathers. Adult 

 males in the fall 

 lack or have only 

 traces of the bril- 

 liant throat patch. 



The nest is 



befitting the dainty bird. Made of soft plant down closely felted, it is covered 

 outside with lichens, and matching very closely the limb on which it is saddled, 

 it may readily be passed by or overlooked, seeming but a knot on the branch. 



These nests are generally from fifteen to twenty feet from the ground 

 and in almost any kind of tree. Two eggs, pure v/hite and about half an 

 inch long, are laid. The birds range throughout Eastern North America, 

 from Florida to F"ur Countries, breeding from Florida to Labrador and win- 

 tering in Cuba, Eastern Mexico, and Central America. 



RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD. ADULT FEMALE. 



This is a dusky, blackish gray bird about five and a half inches long. It 



may be readily recognized by the peculiar elongated shafts of the tail feathers, 



which are very stiff, decidedly pointed, and extend beyond 



Chimney Swift. ^|^^ vanes. The eye is deeply set in the head and there is 



ChEctura pelagica (Linn.). ^ ^ 



a prominent, overshadowing eyebrow. The nest, formerly 

 placed in hollow trees and caves, is now universally built in chimneys. It is 

 made of dead twigs glued together and to the interior wall of the chimney 

 with saliva. In form it resembles a shallow bowl or basket cut in half, the 

 chimney forming the back wall. The eggs are pure white, are from three to 

 six in number, and measure about four fifths of an inch in length and half an 

 inch in their other diameter. 



