CHAPTER XXXI. 



July 23 July 29. 



THE RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD. 



Order Macrochires Suborder Trochili 



Family Trochilidse. Genus Trochilus 



Species Trochilus colubris 

 Length 3.07 to 3.25; wing, 1.60; tail, 1.25. 

 Migration North, May; south, September. 



"Minutest of the feathered kind, 

 Possessing every charm combined, 

 Nature, in forming thee, designed 



That thou shouldst be, 

 A proof within how little space 

 She can comprise such perfect grace 

 Rendering the lovely, fairy race 



Beauty's epitome." 



The ruby-throated hummingbird, the smallest of our 

 birds, is a member of the family Trochilidae, composed of the 

 hummingbirds of which there are about five hundred species ; 

 and all of these are found in the Americas. Seventeen species 

 of them are found in the United States, but the ruby-throat is 

 the only one found in eastern North America. 



The male and female are alike in size and form, but quite 

 unlike in other respects. The male above is of a bright me- 

 tallic green color, with purple wings and tail ; below white and 

 gray with a resplendent ruby-red throat or gorget, which, with 

 the change of light, rapidly assumes all the colors of the rain- 



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