204 



THE OOLOGIST. 



the fanner a hasty got d-bye, hurried 

 up the road and found my friend had 

 one of the finest nest and set of fonr 

 eggs of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher I 

 had ever seen. 



We had a good hiugh over the suc- 

 cessful working of our scheme and 

 started home. 



The next day I saw the farmer in 

 town, and asked him how the "Hum- 

 ming Birds," as he called them, were 

 getting along. He said, "young man, 

 while you was a talking politics to me 

 the other day that infernal scoundrel 

 who runs around with j'ou, was a rob- 

 bing that nest, and I jest tell you. if 1 

 ketch you fellers a trapeasing around 

 over my farm again I'll have you sent 

 up for trespass." I tried to plead 

 innocent, but all to no purpose. I 

 have never yet felt sorry that we fooled 

 the old fellow, and 1 have a good laugh 

 every time I see those eggs. 



F. J., 

 Martin's Ferry, O. 



The Ruljy-throated Eummingbird. 



The Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 

 Trochihis cohcbris, is quite generally 

 distributed through-out New England 

 as a summer visitor. He arrives in 

 Mass. about the middle of May. It is 

 a A'ery interesting sight to watch him 

 darting around from plant to plant, 

 sampling the nectar, which lays hidden 

 in the bosom of the flowers, or hunting 

 for the small insects which form the 

 principal part of his food. There is 

 music in the humming sound of his 

 swiftly moving wings as he darts back 

 and forth from flower to flower. How 

 interesting he looks as he balances him- 

 self on a slender twig to rest and ar- 

 range his feathers! How his brillian(; 

 coat glistens in the bright sunlight! 

 How eagerly we watch him as he gives 

 a quick chs7y, his only note of song, 

 and disappears around some corner, 

 and we wish we could know more 

 about the little stranger! HOw our 



nerves tingle with pleasure, when in 

 our walks, we suddenly discover his 

 nest hidden on a horizontal limb of a 

 tree almost covered with lichens, so 

 nicely arranged that, at first sight you 

 would call it a moss-covered knob! 

 Our cup of joy is full to overflowing, 

 when we find two little white eggs 

 safely hidden in the soft downy nest. 

 When we have safely transferred them 

 to our cabinet, then, only then is our 

 happiness complete. In Mass. this 

 bird usually commences to build his 

 nest the last of May on a horizontal 

 limb of some maple, bii'ch, or apple- 

 tree. It is made of a soft, downy sub- 

 stance taken from some plant. It is 

 then covered with lichens to make it 

 look like a part of the limb, thus shoAV- 

 ing a wise instinct of self-preservation 

 and of its nest and young also. Soon 

 two very small, white, nearly elliptical 

 eggs are laid and then the work of in- 

 cubation commences. In about ten 

 days the little brood appear, who re- 

 ceive the watchful care of the parent 

 birds till they are able to care for them- 

 selves. We have a nest and two eggs 

 in our collection which were found on a 

 low limb of an apple-tree, over-hanging 

 a large brook. We should judge that 

 the nest had been covered with the 

 same mosses and lichens that are found 

 on apple-trees. Last spring, while at 

 my old home in Buckland, Mass., my 

 brother showed me a nest of this 

 species, which he found, while at work 

 in his wood-lot. The nest was half-a- 

 mile from any house, in a timber-lot, 

 near a cross road. It was on a small, 

 slim yellow birch-tree, some twenty 

 feet from the ground, and on a small, 

 slender, horizontal limb about eight 

 feet from the trunk of the tree. The 

 bird was on her nest, and to all appear- 

 ances incubation had commenced. My 

 brother found the nest, which appeared 

 to be completed the last week in May. 

 I saw the nest and bird on it, June 2, 

 1890. As we could not get the nest and 



