

THE HUMMING-BIRDS AND SWIFTS 



161 



humming-birds that many of these flowers depend for 

 cross-fertilization, the head or the bill of the bird carry- 

 ing pollen from one flower to the next. 



HALF GROWN HUMMERS 



When humming birds are first hatched the bills are very short but they 

 rapidly elongate, as is shown here, until when the birds are ready to 

 leave the nest, they are nearly full length. 



Even as remarkable as their size, their brilliant colors, 

 or their curious modifications, are the nesting habits of 

 the humming-birds. The nests are skillfully constructed 



LAST CALL FOR DINNER 



The mother Rubythroat has just arrived with her crop full of humming- 

 bird delicacies, and the young ones are eagerly waiting 



of plant down or wool, gathered from ferns or catkins, 

 and fastened together and bound to the branch by spider 



webs. The outside of the nest is ornamented usually 

 with lichens or bits of moss so that it simulates a knot 

 or resembles the branch upon which it is placed. Usually 

 the nest is saddled upon a branch but with some species 

 it is regularly fastened to the underside of the large leaf 

 of a palm or a tree-fern, or even to a projecting cliff or 

 an overhanging rock. Invariably but two eggs are laid 

 and these are always pure white without spots. They 

 are about the size of bea*ns, though sometimes smaller, 

 and always more slender. 



Humming-birds derive their name from the buzzing 

 of their tiny wings, for their voices are seldom heard. 

 During the courting season, however, most species give 

 vent to their feelings with excited chipperings as they 

 swing, with flashing wings, back and forth past the fe- 

 male. A few species have songs of surprising volume 

 and melody which they sing, as do other birds from an 

 exposed perch on the top of a bush or tree. 



NO WASTE IN THIS FAMILY 



The mother hummingbird makes sure that no food will be wasted by in- 

 serting her bill far down into the throat of the young bird. 



By far the best known species of humming-bird is the 

 ruby-throated, found in summer throughout eastern 

 United States and Canada as far west as Texas. The 

 male bird is bright emerald green above and grayish 

 below with a patch of brilliant ruby-red feathers on the 

 throat that are lacking in the female. Unless the light 

 strikes the feathers at just the right angle, both the red 

 and the green appear dark so that when the little bird 

 is at rest, it is usually passed unnoticed. Indeed one is 

 led to believe that they spend their entire lives on the 

 wing because they are so seldom seen when resting. 



Rubythroats appear from the south, where they have 

 been wintering from Southern Florida to Panama, about 

 the first of May when the leaves are just beginning to 

 unroll and the first blossoms of the cherry and the flow- 



