RUBY-THROATED HUMMING BIRD. 215 



were the favorites. They arrive at Miami about the second week in June and occur at 

 Jacksonville in March. They appear in Pennsylvania the first of May but do not arrive 

 in New Hi inland until the middle of that month and they begin to build in the latter named 

 section nbout the first of June, the eggs being deposited a few days later. The situation 

 selected for the nest is variable, a willow by the brook side often being a chosen resort but 

 T have seen the nest on the limb of an apple tree and they sometimes build in the woodbine 

 which climbs over the cottage door. I have also taken the nest from the lofty branch of 

 a maple which stood in the depth of a forest. When the domicile is placed on a limb of a 

 tree, it so nearly resembles one of those mossy excrescences that are so common, that it 

 is not easv to detect the difference and it is only by watching the birds, that the nest can 

 be discovered. They have the habit of hovering around their home, and of suspending 

 themselves in air near it and they are also very solicitous when the locality in which their 

 domicile is placed, is invaded. The male is especially watchful and when an intruder ap- 

 proaches his place of abode, he will dart downward at him and pause with rapidly vibrating 

 wings within a few feet of his head as if surveying him, then giving an angry twitter, he 

 will disappear only to return again from some new quarter and will not rest unf.il the dis- 

 turber of his peace has departed. The young leave the nest in July but do not seem to 

 accompany their parents long as they soon learn to forage for themselves and they may be 

 seen singly, feeding upon flowers. There is a general migration about the last of Au- 

 gust or first of Saptember but some linger as late as October. 



ORDER VI. CUCULT. CUCKOOS. 



Sternum, with four marginal indentations. Keel, moderately high. Furcula, quite long. 

 Manubrium, present. Joints of toes, normal in number but the outer anterior is projected 

 backward. 



This is a clearly defined order as given above. The outer toe is turned backward so 

 that in grasping there are two toes in front and two behind. The tail is lengthened and the 

 wings are usually quite long. The bill is of varying form. The sternum somewhat resem- 

 bles that of the Passerine birds but there are four marginal indentations and the width is 

 greater. Although some species occur in the temperate zone, the majority of the families 

 inhabit the tropics. 



FAMILY I. COCCYGID^E. THE WHITE-BREASTED CUCKOOS. 



Upper mandible, not high at base, Icn.jer than the head. Keel, higher than one half 

 the width of the sternum. 



The sternum is very wide near the posterior border and the four marginal indenta- 

 lions arc very narrow. The manubrium is quite well developed and the costal processes 

 are long and straight on their anterior border. The coracoids are about equal in length to 

 the bottom of the keel but the top of the keel is produced into a point over the terminal 

 expansion of the furcula, which is quite broad and approximates very closely to the keel. 



