RUBY-THROATED HUMMING BIRD. 251 



are aware of their approach. No bird seems to resist their attacks, but 

 they are sometimes chased by the larger kinds of humble-bees, of which 

 they seldom take the least notice, as their superiority of flight is sufficient 

 to enable them to leave these slow moving insects far behind in the short 

 space of a minute. 



The nest of this Humming Bird is of the most delicate nature, the ex- 

 ternal parts being formed of a light grey lichen found on the branches of 

 trees, or on decayed fence-rails, and so neatly arranged round the whole 

 nest, as well as to some distance from the spot where it is attached, as to 

 seem part of the branch or stem itself. These little pieces of lichen are 

 glued together with the saliva of the bird. The next coating consists of 

 cottony substance, and the innermost of silky fibres obtained from various 

 plants, all extremely delicate and soft. On this comfortable bed, as in 

 contradiction to the axiom that the smaller the species the greater the 

 number of eggs, the female lays only two, which are pure white and al- 

 most oval. Ten days are required for their hatching, and the birds raise 

 two broods in a season. In one week the young are ready to fly, but are 

 fed by the parents for nearly another week. They receive their food di- 

 rectly from the biU of their parents, which disgorge it in the manner of 

 Canaries or Pigeons. It is my belief that no sooner are the young able 

 to provide for themselves than they associate with other broods, and per- 

 form their migration apart from the old birds, as I have observed twenty 

 or thirty young Humming Birds resort to a group of Trumpet-flowers^ 

 when not a single old male was to be seen. They do not receive the full 

 brilliancy of their colours until the succeeding spring, although the throat 

 of the male bird is strongly imbued with the ruby tints before they leave 

 us in autumn. 



The Ruby-throated Humming Bird has a particular liking for such 

 flowers as are greatly tubular in their form. The Common Jimpson-weed 

 or Thorn-apple {Datura Stramonium) and the Trumpet-flower {Bignonia 

 radicans) are among the most favoured by their visits, and after these. 

 Honeysuckle, the Balsam of the gardens, and the wild species which grows 

 on the borders of ponds, rivulets, and deep ravines ; but every flower, down 

 to the wild violet, affords them a certain portion of sustenance. Their food 

 consists principally of insects, generally of the coleopterous order, these, 

 together with some equally diminutive flies, being commonly found in their 

 stomach. The first are procured within the flowers, but many of the lat- 

 ter on wing. The Humming Bird might therefore be looked upon as an ex- 



