S0N0LES8 BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 243 



that the male bird assists the female in the care of the young ; 

 but in my experience the male is alwaj^s absent, and the 

 female alone provides for the young family. The feeding of 

 such a family is a most inter- 

 esting proceeding, as the birds 

 are fed by regurgitation until 

 the very day before they leave 

 the nest. The following re- 

 marks on the appearance of 

 the young birds and their 

 feeding are taken from my 

 notes of July, 1905: — 



How perfect are these little 

 fledgeling wanderers, in their tiny, 

 moss-covered cup, shaded from the 

 southern sun rays by the green ^ig. lOl.-Motherbird feeding young. 

 ■J •! o oue-half natural size. 



leaves which overhang and sur- 

 round the nest. Their dainty new feathers, of but a few days' growth, 

 have been touched by the tender mother's breast alone or the gentle dew 

 of heaven. Their inscrutable, brilliant dark eyes flash quick glances 

 all around ; no motion escapes them. One leans forward from the 

 nest and attempts to pick a moving aphis from the limb. Their whole 

 bodies throb quickly with the fast-surging tide of hot life pulsing 

 through their veins. Now, with a boom like a great bee, the mother 

 suddenly appears out of the air as she darts almost in my face. I am 

 standing within two feet of the nest, and she hangs on buzzing wing, 

 inspecting me, then perches on a limb just above my head, then on 

 another a few feet away, her head raised and neck craned to its fullest 

 extent. Buzzing about from place to place, she inspects me, until, 

 satisfied, she finally alights on the edge of the nest at the usual place, 

 where her constant coming has detached a j^iece of lichen and trodden 

 down the fabric of the edge. The little birds raise themselves with flut- 

 tering wings, and the parent, rising to her full height, turns lier bill 

 almost directly downward, pushes it into the open beak of the young, 

 and by working her gullet and throat discharges the food through the 

 long, hollow bill as from a squirt gun. 



Two days later, on the morning of the 11th, when Mr. 

 Brewster went to the nest, one young bird had gone, but the 

 other sat on the edge. As he came up, it "flew like a bullet" 

 up to the roof of the barn, a few rods away. 



Undoubtedly the Hummingbirds live to some extent on 



