136 THE MALE RUBY-THROAT. 



throughout the period of nidification. Nut- 

 tall speaks explicitly to the same effect, 

 though with no specification of the grounds 

 on which his statement is based. The later 

 systematic biographers Brewer, Samuels, 

 Minot, and the authors of New England 

 Bird Life are silent in respect to the 

 point. Mr. Burroughs, in Wake - Robin, 

 mentions having found two nests, and gives 

 us to understand that he saw only the fe- 

 male birds. Mrs. Treat, on the other hand, 

 makes the father a conspicuous figure about 

 the single nest concerning which she reports. 

 Mr. James Russell Lowell, too, speaks of 

 watching both parents as they fed the young 

 ones: "The mother always alighted, while 

 the father as uniformly remained upon the 

 wing." 



So far, then, the evidence was decidedly, 

 not to say decisively, in the masculine ruby- 

 throat's favor. But while I had no desire 

 to make out a case against him, and in 

 fact was beginning to feel half ashamed of 

 my uncomplimentary surmises, I was still 

 greatly impressed with what my own eyes 

 had seen, or rather had not seen, and thought 

 it worth while to push the inquiry a little 

 further. 



