HUMMINGBIRDS. 



241 



turc in flowers, but many species catch insects on the wing or pick 

 them from beneath leaves. They also feed on the juices of flowers. 

 All the species whose nesting liabits are known lay two white eggs. 



Strangely enough, these beautiful little creatures are possessed of n 

 most unfortunate disposition which frecpu-ntly leads tliem to attack 

 any bird they fancy is tresjiassiiig t)n tlieir domain. They know no 

 fenr, and with e<pud courage rush at one of their kind or a i)assing 

 Hawk. 



428* Trochllus colubris i Linv.). Ki-nv-TiiROATKi> Ih-MMiKcniRn. 



(See Fig. 40.) Aii. ^.-L'ppir parts bright, shining grwn ; wings and tail 

 fuscou.s, with purplish rotlectiuns ; tliroat ln-autil'ul nii'tullic ruhy-red, Iwr- 

 dcTt'd on the breast by whitish ; rest of tlie uiuUi' purls dusky, wasliisd with 

 greenish on the suU's. Ail. 9 .—Similar, t>ut witliout ruby-red on the throat. 

 Im. — Similar to the female, but witli tlio upper parts more bronzy. L., 3'74; 

 W., 1-54; T., 115; B., 67. 



JiaiKje. — Eastern Xortli .Vmerl^a ; breeds froin Floriiia to T^abrador; wai- 

 ters from southern Florida to Central Ameriea. 



Wnshintrton, common S. K., Apl. '28 to Sept. Sing Sing, oonunon S. R., 

 Apl. 30 to <)et. .'!. Cambridge, urveonimon S. U., May \'l to Sept. 



ymt, of plant down, covered externally with lieliens and tirmly wouiul 

 with almost invisible i)lttiit tibers; generally fifteen to twenty-five feet from 

 the ground, sadilled on a limb. Ayys, two, white, '50 x "So. 



The Ruby-throat needs no song. Its beauty gives it distinction, 

 and its wings make music. Its only note, so far as I know, is a 

 squeak, expressive of distru.st or excitenumt. It Irns no rival in eastern 

 North . uerica, and is to be confounded with nothing but sphinx (hum- 

 mingbird) moths. One hears of " Hummingbirds " seen in the evening 

 about flower beds. The mistake is not unnatural, and a correction is 

 sometimes received with incredulity. The birds spend but a com- 

 paratively small part of the time upon the wing. Whoever watches a 

 female busy about her nest will see her constantly perching here and 

 there in certain branches of the tree, preening her pl'imnge and look- 

 ing about her. The male, at the same season, forgetful, to all appear- 

 ance, of his conjugal and parental duties, may be found at home day 

 after day on a dead twig in some tall tree, where he sits so constantly 

 as to make the observer wonder what he can be about, and when, if 

 ever, he takes his food. Further investigation, however, will show 

 that he makes frequent and regidar rounds of favorite feeding phwH's. 

 A tall blueberry bu.sh, for example, will be visited at short intervals 

 as long as the observer has patience to stand beside it. The Hum- 

 mingbird is curiously fearless. Sometimes one will probe a flower 

 held in the hand, and when they fly into houses, as they pretty often 

 do, they manifest but the smallest degree of suspicion, and will feed 

 almost at once upon sugar held between the lips. The old bird feeds 

 17 



