THE ANNA HUMMING-BIRD. 175 



quently very low, as near the ground as two or 

 three feet, but more commonly in a tree. They 

 like the sycamores by running streams. 



If you examine a sycamore leaf, you will find 

 the under side covered with wool, as if it were a 

 sheep's back. This wool the hummer gathers to 

 weave into her nest. Besides this wool, she uses 

 spider-web and lichens, and furze from weeds. 

 When it is completed, the nest looks exactly like 

 the branch on which it is built, so that it takes a 

 sharp eye to discover a hummer's nest. 



But sycamore leaves with wool on them are not 

 to be found in midwinter, when the hummers 

 first begin to nest. It is only in midsummer or 

 late spring that you find a nest made of wool. In 

 winter the hummer finds other material, and 

 always plenty of spider-web. Our cypress hedges 

 are Anna's storehouse for spider-web. You see 

 the little, transparent, glistening patches all over 

 the hedges on a foggy morning. Anna sees them, 

 too, and flies to one and all, gathering her beak- 

 ful without once standing on her feet. If the tiny 

 spiders see their enemy, they run back into their 

 parlors behind the outer leaves, and keep as still 

 as mice. Should they not run fast enough, hum- 

 mer will make a breakfast on them. 



It used to be supposed that hummers eat 



