THE EUBY-THEOATED HUMMINGBIRD. 193 



blossom, and it usually goes south ag'ain about the latter part of September, 

 the males precedmg the females, I believe, iu both migrations. Its breeding 

 range is coextensive with its geographical distribution. Along the Atlantic 

 coast it has been met with by Mr. Lucien M. Turner as far north as Davis 

 Inlet, Labrador, in latitude 55° 37', but this may have been only a casual 

 straggler, as few birds of this species appear to breed north of latitude 52°. 

 In the interior, in the so-called fur countries, it reaches farther north, however. 

 Sir John Richardson met it here up to the fifty-seventh parallel, which appears 

 to be the northernmost known limits of its range; but it is quite possible that 

 it reaches still higher latitudes. None of the numerous gentlemen connected 

 with the Hudson Bay Company, interested in ornithological investigations 

 in the far north, appear to have met with it in the lower Mackenzie basin or 

 along the shores of Great Slave Lake. Westward its range extends well into 

 the eastern borders of the Great Plains; it is a fairly common summer resident 

 here in suitable localities, in eastern Saskatchewan, and in Manitoba, as well as 

 throughout the eastern parts of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, 

 the Indian Territory, and about the eastern half of Texas. In many parts of 

 Florida it seems to be a rather rare breeder, but north of this State it is mostly 

 a common summer resident. 



The Ruby-throated Hummingbird prefers rather open and cultivated country, 

 interspersed here and there with mixed or deciduous woods overrun with 

 flowering masses of vines and creepers, extensive orchards, etc., and it is not at 

 all adverse to taking up its home in flower gardens, in close proximity to man. 

 Its flight is extremely swift, and the rapid motions of its wings in passing back 

 and forth from one cluster of flowers to another causes a humming or buzzing 

 sound, from which the numerous members of this family derive their name of 

 Hummingbirds. Notwithstanding the veiy small size of most of our Hummers, 

 they are all extremely pugnacious, especially the males, and are constantly quar- 

 reling and chasing each other, as well as other birds, some of which are many 

 times larger than themselves. Mr. Manly Hardy writes me that he once saw a 

 male Ruby-throat chasing- a Robin out of his garden and following it up until 

 lost to sight. 



There appears to be considerable difference of opinion among various 

 observers regarding the nature of their food, some contending that this consists 

 principally of nectar sipped from flowers, as well as the sweet sap of certain 

 trees, to which they help themselves at the drinking places of the Yellow-bellied 

 Sapsucker, Spliyrapicus varvus, while others, myself included, believe that they 

 subsist mainly on minute insects and small spiders, tlie latter forming- quite an 

 important article of food with them. Mr. Edwin H. Eames, of Bridgeport, Con- 

 necticut, mentions finding sixteen young spiders of uniform size in the throat of 

 a young Hummingbird which was about two days old.^ 



'The Auk, Vol. VII, 1890, pp. 286-288. I also refer the reader to Mr. Frederick A. Lucas's interest- 

 ing paper in the same periodical (Vol. X, 1893, pp. 311-315), and to another by the same author, "On the 

 structure of the tongue in Hummingbirds," iu the "Proceedings of the United States National Museum" 

 (Vol. XIV, 1891, pp. 169-172), all of which bear on this subject, but want of space preyents me from (.quoting 

 them. 



16896— No. 3 13 



