I 1 8 RUB Y- THR OA TED HUMMING BIR D 



Ruby-throated Hummingbird: Trochilits coliibris. 



Length 3J/2 inches. 



Upper parts shining green; throat metallic ruby-red. 

 Female, without red throat. 



Resident (common) from April 25 to September; winters 

 from southern Florida to Central America. 



"Was it a gem half bird? 

 Or was it a bird half gem? " 



The poet's questions seem to suggest tliis exquisite 

 httle creature better than prosy facts as to color and 

 size; and indeed, if we see it only when it comes flash- 

 ing .about our honeysuckle and weigelia bushes — 

 poising an instant on unseen wings before each dainty 

 blossom — we can scarcely believe that it has the same 

 matter-of-fact existence as other birds. But that 

 tiny body holds as many joys, hopes and fears as any 

 of its larger brothers, and it holds also an intense 

 devotion to the loveliest and smallest nest in Birdland. 



It is often the bird's anxiety about her nest that 

 enables you to find it. Walking through the woods 

 you will perhaps be startled by a loud hinuming noise 

 circling your head, and then you may see a Hunuuing- 

 bird light, uttering a sharp little chip which is her only 

 speech. By this you will know that the nest is near, 

 and you need only look over the rather high, slender 

 branches in the vicinity to discover it. It is possibly 

 an inch and a half in diameter and saddled to a limb 

 about the same thickness. It is composed of plant 

 down, most skillfully felted together, and the outside 

 is so beautifully stuccoed with lichens that it looks 

 exactly like a knot on the limb; inside it is scarcely 

 larger than a thimble, and contains two pearly eggs 

 tmmarred by spot or line. 



The beautiful Sphinx moth, which feeds from 



