i88 Bird -Lore 



closed and the water was swallowed until five drops were consumed, — quite 

 a draught, all things considered. Another minute and the head was raised. 

 I tried to make a perch of my finger, but it was too large by far. Securing a 

 dry twig from the honeysuckle, I wedged it as well as I could with one hand 

 across a berry basket that was on the porch table, and placed Sir Ruby upon 

 it, setting the basket well into the shade of the vine. 



The claws held firmly to the twig, and the bird settled down sleepily, his 

 only motion being to rub his head (eyes now closed) under one half-raised 

 wing. Then I moved back a few feet and waited. Perhaps two minutes passed 

 when, without warning, Sir Ruby, with a single motion, darted from the 

 vine without even touching the basket's edge, and angled across the garden, 

 as good as new. What he thought I cannot know, but I shall never forget the 

 wonderful revelation of the bird world, and reverence for the creative plan 

 complete in so small a frame, that thrilled through me at the beating of that 

 little heart against my palm. 



As housebuilders, these Hummingbirds are as unique as in their appear- 

 ance. Whether the site chosen for a nest be high up almost out of sight, or on 

 a slanting branch close at hand, the nest is usually set astride the limb like a 

 saddle on a horse, instead of being supported by a hand-like series of crotches. 

 An unused nest that I have now before me shows very perfectly the materials 

 from which it was made. Next to the maple branch, less than half an inch 

 thick, is a layer of the soft scales that fall on the opening of spruce buds; the 

 body of the nest is of fern wool, mixed with the down of some composite 

 smaller than the ordinary dandelion. The outside is shingled with cedar-tree 

 moss, as well as a few of the dark scales of spruce bark. 



In this nest, the edge is quite loose and fluffy, and the structure itself is 

 rather small, being not over an inch above its foundation. In this case, the 

 home was, for some unknown reason, abandoned immediately after the eggs 

 were laid ; had the birds been hatched, the nest would have given them but 

 poor protection. The condition of this nest is apparently explained by two 

 cases that I have watched in the garden, when, after the young were hatched, 

 the mother bird built up the nest about them as they grew! For this reason, the 

 nests found in autumn, or at least after they they have cradled the pair of 

 birds that come from the white, bean-like twin eggs, often bear on the out- 

 side a distinctly two-storied appearance, the lichens of the top part being of 

 a slightly different color from the base. I say the mother bird builds up the 

 nest about her young, for there is no proof that the male Ruby-throat takes 

 any part in the home life after the first nest-building; that is, he has never 

 been seen either to assist in the brooding or the feeding of the young, by an 

 accredited observer. 



Why this is no one really knows. It cannot be on account of his colored 

 throat and the law of color protection, or from the danger of betraying the 

 nest, for Tanagers, Rose-breasts, and Baltimore Orioles assist in the feeding of 



