148 HUMMINGBIRDS. 



Swifts naturally nest in hollow trees or caves, and it 

 is only in the more densely populated parts of their 

 range that they resort to chimneys and outbuildings. 

 The nest of our Chimney Swift is a bracketlike basket 

 of small twigs. They are gathered by the bird while 

 on the wing, and are fastened together and to the wall 

 of the tree or chimney with a glutinous saliva. 



The Chimney Swift arrives from the south about 

 April 20, and remains until October. Few birds are 

 better known, and under the name of " Chimney Swal- 

 low" he is familiar to every one who distinguishes a 

 Crow from a Robin. But, beyond similar feeding habits, 

 Swifts have little in common with Swallows ; in fact, are 

 more nearly related to Hummingbirds. 



HUMMINGBIRDS. (FAMILY TROCHILIDJE.) 



HUMMINGBIRDS are peculiar to the New World. About 

 five hundred species are known, but only one of them is 

 Ruby-throated found east of the Mississippi. This is 



Hummingbird, our Ruby-throat, the sexes of which are 

 TrocUius coiubris. sometimes thought to represent differ- 

 ent species. The Ruby -throat winters 

 as far south as Central America, but about May 1 we 

 may expect him to return to us, for he is as regular in 

 his migrations as though his wings measured a foot and 

 a half instead of an inch and a half in length. If you 

 would have him visit you, plant honeysuckle and trum- 

 pet flowers about your piazza, and while they are bloom- 

 ing there will be few days when you may not hear the 

 humming of this tiny bird's rapidly vibrating wings. 



The Ruby -throat feeds on insects as well as on the 

 juices of flowers, and when you see him probing a corolla 

 he is quite as likely to be after the one as the other. The 

 young are fed by regurgitation, the parent bird insert- 



