BIRDS WITH A HANDICAP 



In this case there was no opportunity for camera studies 

 of the young hummer, for the egg never hatched. The 

 faithful mother brooded it week after week till she lost 

 heart and quit. Then I took possession and blew the 

 egg, finding in it nothing but water. 



The time came, at length, when I was to have every 

 facility for this study and when, with wider experience, 

 I could take full advantage of it. It came at a season 

 when I had no idea of any more pictures of bird nesting, 

 unless of the ever tardy Goldfinch in mid-August. A 

 road was being cut through a tract of woods, just back 

 from the shore of a small lake. One afternoon they 

 cut down a black birch tree, and the next morning, 

 when one of the men was cutting it up, he heard a 

 continued chirping, and, upon making investigation, 

 found the nest of a Hummingbird out on a slender 

 branch of the fallen tree, about twenty-five feet up from 

 the base. It was tipped over to one side, yet in it was 

 a young hummer, clinging to the soft lining, and on 

 the ground beneath it was another. They were nearly 

 fledged and just about able to fly. Taking pity on the 

 poor little things, the man cut off the limb with the nest, 

 fixed it firmly between two trees about five feet from 

 the ground, and placed the little hummers upon it. 

 At first they fluttered out, and, indeed, they seemed so 

 much too large for the tiny cup that it appeared almost 

 impossible for them both to fit in. But what man 

 could not do the birds did themselves, when they got 

 good and ready. The men on the estate were much 



118 



