50 



with fine soft grass and the nest is 

 ready for the eggs, four or five in 

 number. They are of a greyish blue 

 or green color and are more or less 

 speckled with light brown, they vary 

 however in color to a great extent 

 some specimens being almost devoid 

 of markings while others are so 

 thickly blotched and spotted that 

 the ground color is scarcely distin- 

 guishable. 



The difference too in the size is 

 very striking I have before me an 

 egg produced by a black-bird which 

 presented a curious freak of nature 

 the whole of the head and neck and 

 part of one wing being white. This 

 egg which was one of the four laid 

 in the same nest is of extraordinary 

 size being half as large again as any 

 of the others. 



I am fearful of absorbing too 

 much space and hope I have not al- 

 ready exceeded my just proportion 

 I can only plead as an excuse my 

 fondness for the Merle as Shake- 

 speare calls him and trust my fellow 

 collectors will not find this brief ac- 

 count of a common English bird 

 tedious and uninteresting. 



L. Haytee. 



CANADI AN WIL D BIRDS. 



BY W. L. KELLS 



V 

 Humming Birds. 



There are many varieties of this 

 genus found on the American con- 

 tinent, but only one species — the 

 Ruby-throated Hummingbird — is 

 known to visit Ontario. Two other 

 varieties — the Anna and Rufous- 

 ruffed Hummingbird — are summer 

 visitants in the northwest territories 

 and British Columbia, while other 

 species are found in the islands on 

 the Pacific Coast. 



THE EUBY THEOATED HUMMINGBIED. 



( Trochilus colubris.) 

 This much admired, aud very in- 

 teresting summer visitor, is the 



smallest of the feathered race that 

 can be recorded among the birds of 

 Canada. In the early part of June — 

 if the weather is warm, and our 

 woods and fields have began to as- 

 sume the emerald garb of summer, 

 when the orchard trees are laden 

 with young fruit, and many flowers 

 of varied hues are about to bloom 

 and delight the senses of sight and 

 smell with their beauty and fra- 

 grance — the attractive form of this 

 animated gem of nature may be 

 seen darting among the berry bear- 

 ing bushes or hovering over some 

 newly opened flower, from the re- 

 cesses of which, by means of its 

 long straight bill and threadlike 

 tongue, it draws forth with rapidity 

 the minute insects and sweet nectar, 

 which constitutes its daily food. 

 The plumage on the upper parts is 

 black with a changable greenish 

 purple hue; the throat is deep crim- 

 son, or ruby red; and the underparts 

 have an ashy tinge. 



When flying or feeding, the wings 

 move with such rapidity as to be 

 almost invisible to the eye of an 

 observer though only a few yards 

 distant. 



This rapidity of motion causes 

 that humming sound from which 

 the bird derives its name. 



The nest of the Humming bird is 

 a neat compact little structure, 

 formed of downy materia 1 s, the out- 

 side of which so closely resembles 

 in color the branch on which 

 it is placed that at a short distance 

 it may be taken for a small knot. 

 Two pure white eggs are laid and 

 carefully guarded by the little own- 

 ers, who seem to have exalted ideas 

 of their own importance. 



A Georgia paper gives the follow- 

 ing description of a humming birds 

 nest that was recently brought to 

 its office: — "It was set upon a limb 

 of a tree the size of a man's thumb, 

 and coated on the outside with the 

 moss of an oak, so as perfectly to 



