THE MALE RUBY-THROAT. 151 



know, so far as the mere fact of distance was 

 concerned; but here again an intervening 

 wood must have cut off all visual com- 

 munication. If his mate and nest were 

 not within view from his ash - tree perch, 

 what could be the meaning of his conduct? 

 Without some specific constraining motive, 

 no bird in his normal condition was likely 

 to stay in one tree hour after hour, day after 

 day, and week after week, so that one could 

 never come in sight of it without seeing him. 

 But even if his nest was in the immediate 

 neighborhood, the closeness and persistency 

 of his lookout are still, to my mind, an ab- 

 solute mystery. Our female bird, whether 

 she had eggs or offspring, made nothing of 

 absenting herself by the half hour; but this 

 male hardly gave himself time to eat his 

 necessary food; indeed, I often wondered 

 how he kept himself alive. Is such a course 

 of action habitual with male hummers? If 

 so, had our seemingly widowed or deserted 

 mother a husband, who somewhere, unseen 

 by us, was standing sentry after the same 

 heroic, self-denying fashion ? These and all 

 similar questions I must leave to more for- 

 tunate observers, or postpone to a future 



