THE 



WILSON BULLETIN 



NO. 85. 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY 



VOL. XXV DECEMBER, 1913. NO. 4 



OLD SERIES VOL. XXV. NEW SERIES VOL XX 



EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING HUMMINGBIRDS 

 DURING SEVEN SUMMERS.^ 



BY ALTHEA R. SHERMAN, 

 NATIONAL, IOWA. 



The experiments herein described were begun without in- 

 tending- them to bear upon the question of the food naturally 

 sought by the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus col- 

 ubris) ; the original aim of the feeding was to attract the 

 Hummingbirds about the yard in the hope that sometime 

 they would remain to nest there. The experiments have been 

 conducted on independent lines without knowledge of any 

 similar work that was being done by others until the autumn 

 of 1912, except in one instance, where special acknowledg- 

 ments are due Miss Caroline G. Soule of Brookline, Mass., 

 who in Bird-Lore for October, 1900, described her success 

 in feeding Hummingbirds from a vial, which she had placed 

 in the heart of an artificial trum.pet-flower made from What- 

 man paper and painted with water-colors. This suggestion 

 of using artificial flowers was taken, but more durable ones 

 were made from white oil-cloth, their edges were stiffened 

 with one strand of wire taken from picture cord, and they 



^Read at the 31st Annual Congress of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union, New York City, Nov. 11, 1913. 



