BIRDS WITH A HANDICAP 



flowers within. I have even read of their visiting the 

 artificial flowers on a lady's hat when she was walking 

 out, and other writers speak of their taking sugar from 

 between a person's lips. In a room they become con- 

 fused, and, being so frail, are apt to injure themselves 

 by striking against objects. More than once I or mem- 

 bers of my family have caught the frightened little 

 waifs for their good, and released them in the open air. 

 It is of no use to try to keep them in captivity, unless, 

 possibly, it were in a greenhouse where there were 

 plenty of flowers, for no artificial food has ever been 

 found which will nourish them. Yet even there they 

 would probably kill themselves by flying against the 

 glass. 



We may expect the little hummer in the Middle 

 States or New England early in May each year. They 

 seem to come paired and resort each time to the familiar 

 hunting grounds. At least we are apt to see Humming- 

 birds in the same places year after year. By early June 

 each pair has its dainty nest and two tiny white eggs 

 hardly larger than peas. A favorite site for the nest is 

 an old lichen-grown apple tree in an orchard, generally 

 not high up. But often they will choose some shade 

 tree, like a maple, in the garden or along the street. 

 Sometimes it is on a tree in a swamp or in deep woods. 



It was in the latter situation that I found my first 



occupied nest of the hummer, though, when a small 



boy, I remember discovering the home of a pair that 



frequented our garden, saddled to the lower limb of a 



* 113 



