RUBYTHROAT 191 



after the Blue Damson trees got large enough to bear I 

 even thought I knew that the nest was in one of these 

 trees, but I never discovered it. 



I have spent many a Sabbath afternoon sitting under 

 these trees with a book or paper, determined to watch un- 

 til I saw those birds go to their nest. Every time I heard 

 a whir I looked up, but the birds were more shrewd 

 than I. 



The young birds appeared regularly at the proper time, 

 and I knew their family life well, but they were so expert 

 at hiding their nest that they baffled all my family. I 

 saw humming birds' nests at some of the neighbors', how- 

 ever. The first one I remember seeing was in Dan Davis' 

 yard in a giant white elm tree too large to climb. Tho 

 this nest was scarcely more than an inch and a half in 

 diameter it was built on the top of a limb as thick through 

 as a man's body. It was made of horsehair, thistle down, 

 and feathers, stuck into a crack in the rough bark, and 

 covered with lichens glued on with the bird's saliva. This 

 tree stood on a sidehill where we could see the nest and 

 even get close enough to know what was going on in it, 

 but we could not get at it. After the young birds had 

 flown, some of the boys put a ladder against this tree and 

 took the nest down, and we tore it up to see how it was 

 made. 



My birds of the plum trees were great fighters. I sup- 

 pose there is not a bird that lives that is more aggressive 

 than the humming bird. He is always on the lookout for 

 any bird that might possibly do his mate or his nest harm. 

 If he does not find such a one, he will fight anyway if he 

 can meet an opponent. He is the one bird with which I 

 am acquainted that does not hesitate to attack the kingbird 



