576 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



the upper part of a horizontal branch, as was the case with the 

 nest so graphically described by Mr. Webber. Sometimes it is 

 seen actually upon the trunk of a tree, attached to the bark by its 

 side ; and in a few rare instances it has been found in a garden, 

 attached to some strong-stalked herb. Generally, however, the 

 bird selects a white oak sapling if it builds in the woods, and a 

 pear-tree if it prefers the garden. 



The tiny nest is scarcely more than one inch in width and the 

 same in depth, so that its size is very small when compared with 

 that of its occupants, which, when full grown, are more than three 

 inches in total length. The materials of which the nest is made 

 are principally the delicate cotton-like fibres which form the 

 " wings" of certain seeds, such as those of the thistle, and which 

 are so carefully woven together that they form a tolerably stout 

 wall. Upon this wall are stuck quantities of a light gray lichen 

 which is found on old fences and trees, so that the external ap- 

 pearance of the nest is rendered very similar to that of the branch 

 on which it is placed. The lining is composed of the fine hairs 

 which clothe the stalks of mullein, and ferns, and other pubescent 

 plants, and forms a thick, soft bed, on which repose the two mi- 

 nute pearly eggs. 



The nest is not merely placed upon the branch, because in that 

 case it would present a decided outline, and be comparatively easy 

 of recognition. On the contrary, the base of the nest is partly 

 continued round the branch, so that the whole fabric rises gradu- 

 ally from the bough, as if it were a natural excrescence. 



When the young are hatched they are fed by thrusting their 

 beaks into the opened mouths of their parents, and extracting 

 the supply of liquid sweets which have been collected from the 

 flowers. 



There is another species of this group that builds a very pret- 

 ty branch-nest. This is the Vervain Humming-bird (Mellisuga 

 minima), one of the minutest of the feathered race. From the 

 point of its beak to the end of its tail it only measures two inches 

 and three quarters, so that when stripped of its feathers it seems 

 more like an insect than a bird. 



Its popular name is derived from its fondness for the West In- 

 dian vervain (Stachyarpheta), a very common weed in neglected 

 pastures, with a slender stem, a blue flower, and averaging a foot 

 in height. Wherever the vervain is plentiful the Humming-bird 



