Birds of Allegany Park 323 



Run, particularly about Frecks, but it is also to be found on Red 

 House Creek, Wolf Run and Limestone Brook, and probably other 

 places. It prefers thickets of willow and elder that grow along 

 streams, and is characteristic of the stream border type. 



The song is loud and clear and made up of short, quick notes, 

 varying up and down in pitch. At intervals certain notes are 

 accented. There is a suggestion in the song of that of the Mary- 

 land Yellow-throat, but the rhythm is never so regular, and one may 

 always feel sure that while the bird sounds something like a 

 Yellow-throat, it is not that species. There is enough variation so 

 that syllables written for the song of one bird, are not likely to fit 

 the song of many other individuals. Thus Silloway ('20, p. 94) writes 

 " chip, chippery, chippery, chippery, chee-teh-chee " for the song as 

 heard in the Palisades Park. A song I heard in the Allegany Park 

 was written " chip e wah chee taychee chip e wah," the two " chee " 

 notes being highest in pitch, but the " tay," though low, loud and 

 accented. 



The nest is hidden on the ground, under the roots of a bush or 

 in a bank. It is made of leaves, bark, moss or roots, and contains 

 four or five spotted eggs. 



Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Archilochus colubris (Linn.) 



This bird is easily identified by its diminutive size ; its long, slender 

 bill ; its quick darting flight, — now poising in the air, now darting 

 to another spot so quickly that the eye can hardly follow; and the 

 humming noise produced by the little wings, moving so rapidly 

 as to be visible only as a blur. The metallic colorings, — green, 

 white, and in the male, red, — are less valuable field marks than 

 the shape and the habits of flight, for under different light con- 

 ditions they appear to be various colors. 



The Hummingbird is quite common in the Park, in fact more so 

 than in any other region I am acquainted with. It inhabits mainly 

 the edges of forest and thicket growths along the streams. In such 

 places the bee balm (Monarda didyma, figure 91) grows com- 

 monly, and it may be the abundance of this flower that accounts 

 for the abundance of Hummingbirds. The birds may frequently 

 be seen hovering about the flowers. Several times I saw birds the 

 top of whose heads appeared golden yellow, so covered were they 

 with the pollen of this flower, the stamens and pistil of which are 

 arranged so as to brush the head of the visiting hummer. In the 

 Tunungwant Valley the cardinal flower {Lobelia cardinalis) is 

 common, and is another favorite of the Hummingbird. This 

 flower, though in no way related to the Monarda, is also red in 

 color, with stamens and pistils similarly, arranged to brush the bird's 

 head and in that way insure pollination. A third flower sometimes 

 visited was the Turk's-cap lily (Lilium superbwn, figure 92) 

 but this flower only dusts the hummer's breast with its dull red 

 pollen, and it seems more commonly visited by butterflies than 

 Hummingbirds. 

 The Hummingbird has no song, and only a few squeaky notes not 



