THE ANNA HUMMING-BIRD. 177 



Then peep in and say, "0! 0!" What you see 

 is not so very much bigger than a couple of capi- 

 tal O's. And they are black and bare. They 

 move the least bit. They may possibly make a 

 cry, that only the mother's ear can hear, for she 

 returns at once and settles down above her dar- 

 lings, not minding you right in front of her. She 

 has learned by this time that you would n't harm 

 the nest. You will keep on watching every min- 

 ute you can spare, and will notice that for a week 

 the little hummers are fed as often as every fifteen 

 or twenty minutes. After that, longer times be- 

 tween meals will answer. The mother places her 

 beak in the throat of the little ones, exactly as the 

 linnets and finches do, and gives the food, warm 

 from her own breast. At first the young are too 

 weak to lift their heads, and the mother is seen to 

 turn their beaks with her own, until they are in a 

 position to take their meal. But the young have 

 not much of a beak to begin with. You will 

 notice that they are only pointed lips. But they 

 grow, until in a week you think they look quite 

 like humming-birds' beaks. 



There is something about these strange, slender, 

 black bills which you will never see for yourself, 

 and so you must be told. If you watch a hummer 

 on a bough, napping, you will see it yawn when 



.R. VOL. 912 



