.^^ THE MAINE ^f^. 



Ornithologist and Oologist. 



VOL. J I 



GARLAND.ME. MAR, 1891. 



NO 1 



The Humming-birds, 



(BY ROBKRTK. SCOKSO.) 



The iiumming-birds are amoug the 

 least of tlie feathered race, they are also 

 the most briliant. In power of flight 

 jhev arc excelled by no other bird and 

 thev are uMiaily seem on the wing, some- 

 times they perch on slender twigs but 

 uever are seen to rest on the ground. 



The Humming-bird family is divided 

 into one hundred and 

 nintysix species, one 

 hundred of which are 

 found in A.mericaaQd 

 adjoining islands. 



The variety most 

 common to us is the 

 Kuby-thr.»ated who 

 arrives in this locality 

 with early spring 

 and stavs with \is as 



lichen of which the outer part is com- 

 posed, the lining is«'fa cottony sub- 

 stance gathered from plants such as the 

 milk weed. Two tiny pure white eggs 

 are laid, The young while in the nest 

 are cared for like all their big Cousins 

 but as soon as they are able to provide 

 for themselvs they leave their parents 

 and in the fall several brudes unite 

 and fly southward. 



The most beautiful Humming-birds 

 are found in b'ouih America where in 



some parts they 

 swarm so thickly 

 among the trees as 

 to be sometimes 

 taken at first glance 

 for briliant bees. 

 Among the most 

 beautiful of the 

 ^'tropical lumanaries" 

 are the Green-blue 



the SHp})ho-C"ornet, 

 long as their are the hubyt'ikoatkd. «ud tlie Sparkling- 



flowers siiffuient to supply it with 

 food. 



As soon a« the warm sun has opened 

 the buds and petah you may see him 

 in the garden or orchard flitting from 

 flowpr to flower and is now emerald 

 and rnhy .now emerald and Jjold, and 

 ^ow a blaze of colors. 



Tho nest U a very delicate structure 

 and is placed on a branch in such a 



tailed Humming-birds ; but the most 

 (•urious as well as the most beautiful 

 of the whole group is the ''Lindens 

 Helmet-crested Humming-bird/' 



This curious litrle fellow was dis- 

 covered by .Mr. Linden in Aug. 1842 

 while assendiiig the Sierra Navi-da 

 De Merida at a hight of from twelve 

 to thirteen hundred feet above the level 

 of the sea. / t this altitude of extreme 



De;it way as to resemble a bunch of | cold one would scarcely expect to find 



