THE MALE RUBY-THROAT. 149 



wood, perhaps. But, if so, why did I hear 

 nothing from her, as I passed up and down ? 

 Again my hour and a half had been spent to 

 no purpose. 



Not yet discouraged, I returned the next 

 morning. For the three quarters of an hour 

 that I remained, the hummer was not once 

 out of the ash-tree for five minutes. I am 

 not sure that he left it for five minutes alto- 

 gether. As usual, he perched almost with- 

 out exception on one or other of two dead 

 limbs, while a similar branch, on the oppo- 

 site side of the trunk, he was never seen to 

 touch. A Maryland yellow-throat alighted 

 on one of his two branches and began to 

 sing, but had repeated his strain only three 

 or four times before the hummer, who had 

 been absent for the moment, darted upon 

 him and put him to flight. A little after- 

 ward, a red-eyed vireo alighted on his other 

 favorite perch, and he showed no resent- 

 ment. The day before, a warbler had sat on 

 the same branch which the yellow-throat now 

 invaded, and the hummer not only did not 

 offer to molest him, but flew away himself. 

 These inconsistencies made it hard to draw 

 any inference from his behavior. During 



