MY HUMMING BIRDS. 121 



We will, however, before concluding, give also to the reader 

 some interesting passages from the observations of other na- 

 turalists. Audubon says of the ruby -throated hummer : 



" The nest of this humming bird is of the most delicate 

 nature, the external parts being formed of a light gray lichen 

 found on the branches of trees, or on decayed fence-rails, 

 and so neatly arranged round the whole nest, as well as to 

 some distance from the spot where it is attached, as to seem 

 part of the branch or stem itself. These little pieces of lichen 

 are glued together by the saliva of the bird. The nest 

 coating consists of cottony substance, and the innermost of 

 silky fibres obtained from various plants, all extremely deli- 

 cate and soft. On this comfortable bed, as in contradiction 

 to the axiom that the smaller the species the greater the 

 number of eggs, the female lays only two, which are pure 

 white and nearly oval. Ten days are required for their 

 hatching, and the birds raise two broods in a season. In 

 one week the young are ready to fly, but are fed by the pa- 

 rents for nearly another week. They receive their food di- 

 rectly from the bill of their parents, which disgorge it in 

 the manner of canaries or pigeons. It is my belief that no 

 sooner are the young able to provide for themselves than 

 they associate with other broods, and perform their migra- 

 tions apart from the old birds, as I have observed twenty 

 or thirty young humming birds resort to a group of trum- 

 pet flowers, when not a single old male was to be seen. 

 They do not receive the full brilliancy of their colors until 

 the succeeding spring, although the throat of the male bird 

 is strongly imbued with the ruby tints before they leave us 

 in autumn. 



" I have seen many of these birds kept in partial confine- 

 ment, when they wese supplied with artificial flowers made 

 for the purpose, in the corollas of which water with honey 

 or sugar dissolved in it was placed. The birds were fed on 

 these substances exclusively, but seldom lived many months, 

 and on being examined after death, were found to be ex- 



