2 RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD 



over the piazza one moment, gone with a whirr 

 the next, where, how far, who can say? As the 

 mother bird vanishes and reappears, reappears 

 and vanishes, it becomes plain that she is carry- 

 ing food to her young. Her nest is the most 

 exquisite of all the beautiful structures of winged 

 architects, her domestic life and ways of caring 

 for her young among the most original and curi- 

 ous. Surely the patience of the bird-lover should 

 be equal to the task of discovering her home. 

 When found, it proves to be, like its builder, the 

 smallest of its kind, a thimble of plant-down 

 coated with delicate green lichen, formed and 

 decorated with wonderful skill, and saddled so 

 dextrously to a bough that it would seem but a 

 part of the tree itself. When the eggs are first 

 laid, their white shells are so thin as to be almost 

 transparent, and when the young come out of the 

 little white pearls it seems a seven days' marvel 

 that such mites can -ever become birds. 



It takes three full weeks for them to reach 

 man's estate and leave the nest. During that 

 time the care of the mother is most interesting. 

 She is certainly kept busy, for sixteen young 

 spiders have been found in the stomach of a nest- 

 ling only two days old. The Hummer feeds the 

 young by regurgitation, plunging her needle-like 

 bill into their tiny throats ' a frightful-look- 

 ing act,' as Mr. Torrey says. When she finds 

 the brood ready to leave the nest, her anxiety 



