CHAPTER XVIII 



The Humming-bird: Trochilus Colubris 



ABOUT THE CABIN 



When Mr. McCollum sent 

 me word that one of his sons had 

 located the nest of a Humming- 

 bird, I traveled the same road I 

 had gone over a little earlier in 

 the season to the haunt of the 

 Rail. The fact that all nature 

 had advanced a few weeks nearer 

 fruition made the trip none the 

 less delightful. We found the 

 location in deep forest in a small 

 ironwood tree and the nest so lit- 

 tle that only by a miracle had any 

 one ever seen it at all. 



The tiny cradle was built of 

 lichens lined with chestnut-col- 

 ored down fine as silk, saddled on 

 a limb about twice the thickness 

 of a lead-pencil, and bound fast 



with cobwebs. A silver dollar laid on top would have sheltered it 

 perfectly during a rainstorm. There were no eggs, and as it had 

 been discovered ten days before and the tree bent to examine it 

 while the birds had been building, I concluded they had abandoned 

 it. I am sure it was completed outside, but I do not know that it 



'It soon revived until it could 

 cling to a dead twig 

 on the bush" 



