Fa m ily Troch Hi dee Hu m m ingb ird 141 



FAMILY TROCHILID^J 



80. RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD 



( Tro chilus colubris.) 



Male : upper parts green ; wings and tail dusky ; under parts 

 grayish ; throat in different lights may look slate, or brilliant 

 metallic red. Beak long, black, and needle-like; feet tiny. 

 Female: in general similar, but the throat is white, specked 

 with dark, and the outer tail feathers are tipped with white. 

 The male from tip of tail to tip of beak appears about three 

 inches long, and the female is about half an inch less. 



The least of birds, a jewelled sprite 



With burnished throat and needle bill. SILL. 



THESE exquisite little beings are attracted espe- 

 cially by long-tubed flowers, such as the nasturtium, 

 the trumpet creeper, and the honeysuckle. They 

 are singularly fearless, coming readily into the im- 

 mediate neighborhood of houses, or even of persons. 

 I have had the same bird come twice over to poise 

 before a cluster of nasturtiums which I held, brush- 

 ing the hand which held them, and seeming to re- 

 gard it as a new and improved kind of flower-stem. 

 They may be found all through the summer, from 

 early May even to mid-September. 



The nest is usually placed on the limb of an oak 

 or an orchard tree, and so thickly covered with 

 lichens as to look like a part of the branch. It has 



