Experiments in Feeding Hummingbirds 163 



quently held touching- the mouth of the bottle, but she did 

 not learn to drink from the spoon. While drinking the 

 tongue was extended about a quarter of an inch beyond the 

 tip of the bill, and two or three drops were sipped before 

 the bill was withdrawn. Once fifteen drops were taken with 

 three insertions of the bill, and at another time the bird drank 

 without the withdrawal of her bill for about the duration of 

 a minute. At such times the bottle was free from ants, 

 probably they were present when the drinking was done with 

 numerous sips. Often a bird preferred to take her breakfast 

 in courses, perching on a nearby dead twig for a minute or 

 two between drinks. 



During two of the seasons it was thought that some of 

 the birds roosted on our place appearing as they did very 

 early, and making a long day for feasting and fighting. In 

 other years the birds were seen to fly eastward at night and 

 their morning arrivals were not so early. One June morn- 

 ing a bird was ready for her breakfast at four o'clock, and 

 took her last drink at night just before the clock struck 

 eight. On some August days there are records of their pres- 

 ence at break of day, in one case it was thirty-eight minutes 

 before sunrise. They usually lingered a short time after 

 sundown, drinking long- and deeply before taking their even- 

 ing departure. 



The conviction that the same birds were returning to us 

 summer after summer began to be felt at the beginning of 

 the fourth season. On May 26 of that year the first Hum- 

 mingbird appeared on the place. The next day the flower- 

 less bottle No. 4 was put out, and in a few hours a bird was 

 drinking from it. For the next three weeks she was seen 

 drinking from this bottle on every day except two, but not in 

 the middle of the day; then for two weeks she was missed, 

 returning again on the first of July. 



The history of the fifth season was similar, Humming- 

 birds having been seen on May 22 bottle No. 4 was staked 

 out and filled for a few days. No bird coming to drink, the 

 bottle-filling had been discontinued, when on June 6 a Hum- 



