146 



THE OOLOGIST. 



24, 1902, give a further picture of the 

 feeding habits of this pretty little 

 creature: "At last I come to a beauti- 

 ful place where the jewel weed, or wild 

 touch-me-not fill the space not occu- 

 pied by the new growth of sprouts. 

 Both varieties are here, the yellow 

 and the orange; and I simply stand 

 and look. The bees and butterflies 

 keep up their constant flutteiing. Sud- 

 denly there comes the sound as of a 

 four-horse power bumble-bee. There 

 is a stir among the touch-me-nots. It 

 is a ruby-throated hummingbird. See 

 it poised, probing into the secrets of 

 the blossoms. It starts, rises above 

 the verdure and hangs with tail out- 

 spread, the pulsating wings looking 

 like the spokes cf a fast-revolving 

 wheel. The foliage below stirs by the 

 breeze of it's wings. It's head turns 

 and it's eyes look straight into mine. 

 But it sees nothing there that is un- 

 friendly; so, it commences again, but 

 a few feet away to pass from flower 

 to flower. Over to the north another 

 buzzing and there hangs a male bird, 

 the beautiful green body glistening in 

 the sunlight and the ruby-throat shin- 

 ing against it like a gorgeous jewel. 

 It darts away and lights on a dead 

 branch of a sycamore tree in the bed 

 of the stream. A pair of them fly 

 past with a buzz and they light on a 

 tall horse weed over on the east side. 

 A big black butterfly, with long 

 streamers behind, floats high across 

 the scene and disappears among the 

 trees to the east. Another female 

 hummer comes up close to me and 

 poises herself in the air as if to see 

 whether I would make a good perch. 

 Deciding in the negative, away she 

 darts and lights on the limb of a hop- 

 hornbeam that overleans the stream. 

 Hummingbirds seem to be everywhere. 

 A sparrow flits from one bush to an- 

 other and looks comparatively like a 

 crow. * * * I would be satisfied if I 



could just stay here always and listen 

 to the mingling sounds and watch the 

 matchless spread of blossoms, birds 

 and bees. But I move on trying to 

 follow the hummingbirds as they 

 speed out into the timber and dart 

 back for new nectar. So I start, 

 breaking the brush-end from a little 

 sapling that had been cut down, and 

 with the large end I strike the trees 

 along my path. But if there are any 

 nests, the owners are evidently out on 

 a foraging trip." 



It has been asserted that the hum- 

 mingbirds are especially fond of red 

 flowers. They are seen most frequent- 

 ly, in this region, around honey suckle, 

 trumpet vine, gladiolus, and wild 

 touch-me-nots, though they visit many 

 small inconspicuous wild flowers. The 

 probabilities are that the humming- 

 bird has the color sense well develop- 

 ed and at once distinguishes the bright 

 colors. 



The Ruby-throat, of the fifteen re- 

 cognized species in North America, is 

 the only one whose geographical dis- 

 tiibution is general over the eastern 

 United States. It has been noted nest- 

 ing as late as June 24th, in Michigan. 

 This would lead one to think that it 

 raises two broods each year even that 

 far north. If this be true, in New Jer- 

 sey early July would be just about 

 the right time for the second genera- 

 tion. Red birds have reared as many 

 as three sets and some other birds, 

 when the first clutch is destroyed, at 

 once build again; and, sometimes dur- 

 ing a single summer, lay as many as 

 four settings. 



Now just a word in regard to all ob- 

 servations. One may draw positive 

 conclusions from actual observations; 

 but to say that a thing is impossible 

 or preposterous presupposes a know- 

 ledge universal. Birds of the same 

 species differ in nesting habits. Tur- 

 tle doves nest both on the ground and 



