384



Miss Althea R. Sherman,



Another method of estimating the amount eaten was devised

On several days the sugar and the water were carefully measured

and weighed, then weighed and measured again, after which the

syrup resulting from their combination was also measured and

weighed, until I felt confident that in a dram of the thinnest syrup

served there were 40 grains of sugar, or two-thirds of a gram to

every drop. But the syrup usually used was considerably richer

than this, easily containing a grain of sugar in every drop; but it

seems best in giving the estimates to keep them to the weakest

grade of syrup ever served.


In making the test a dram of syrup was measured in a glass

graduate, and bottle No. 4 was filled. This was always done in the

morning, when the bottle had been emptied by ants. A waiting

humming bird came and took her breakfast, after which the residue

of syrup was poured back into the graduate, the bottle being,

thoroughly drained. Possibly a drop still adhered to the bottle,

but the number of minims now in the graduate substracted from 60

must have given very nearly the amount drank by the humming

bird. In two summers a number of these tests were made. A bird

took for her breakfast from 8 to 20 minims, the average being 15.

Using the low estimate of two-thirds of a grain of sugar to each

drop, the average breakfast held 10 grains of sugar. A better com¬

prehension of the size of that meal may be gained by remembering

that two large navy beans or one medium-sized lima bean also

weigh 10 grains. Breakfast and supper were the rubythroats’

heaviest meals, but there were many luncheons between them. By

reckoning eight to nine such meals daily (and beyond doubt there

were that number), we reach again the first estimate of 70 to 90

grains of sugar as the daily ration. About this amount of sugar is

held by a common teaspoon when level full ; such a spoon will hold

fromllO to 120 minims of water, whereas one of those heirlooms, a

grandmother’s teaspoon, is the measure of the standard teaspoonful

of 60 minims. Referring, then, to the standard measure, the bird

would be said to eat two teaspoonfuls of sugar daily. An ordinary

cube of loaf sugar contains the equivalent to this amount.


Reflecting upon the bulk consumed by so small a creature, one

naturally desires to know the weight of a humming bird. A little



