other part of the country they would 

 have placed their home in such an ex- 

 posed place ; for a hard rain would have 

 killed the baby birds and destroyed the 

 nest. It was several days before the lit- 

 tle birds' eyes opened, and they were a 

 week old before they had any feathers. 

 When the feathers did come they were 

 drab, except on their backs, which were 

 a lovely green. We thought them very 

 pretty now, and would stroke their little 

 backs and call them pet names." 



"Were they afraid, Auntie?" asked 

 Ruth. 



"No, not in the least," replied Aunt 

 Julia. "As thev grew larger they more 

 than filled the little nest, and we feared 

 they might fall out ; but we found that 

 they clung firmly with their tiny claws, 

 and were in no danger of falling. Late 

 one afternoon when they were about a 

 month old, I saw the mother bird feed 

 them." 



"Oh, tell us about it !" exclaimed all 

 the children. 



"The old bird came and sat upon a 

 branch near the nest, and quickly both 

 little birds gave a jump toward her, flop- 

 ping their wings, opening their mouths, 

 and making a little peeping noise that 

 probably meant : 'Me first, mamma ! me 

 first !' 'Oh I'm so hungry !' and they 

 crowded and pushed each other just like 

 two greedy little children." 



"What cunning little birds !" said Bes- 

 sie. "Tell us how the little mother fed 

 them, Auntie." 



"Well, continued Aunt Julia, "the 

 mother bird put her bill first into one 

 open mouth and then into the other, un- 

 til both birdies seemed satisfied and set- 

 tled back into the nest. Now, I am go- 

 ing to tell you how well they behaved 

 when they had their pictures taken. One 

 morning when they were five weeks old, 

 a gentleman came with a camera which 

 he found he could place within eighteen 

 inches of the nest. I suppose if it had been 

 a little girl whose picture he was taking, 

 he would have said : 'Now smile and look 

 pleasant' ; but what he did say was : 'I 

 wish that they would sit up in the nest 

 better. Can't you pull that one up a lit- 

 tle?' And I would take hold of its bill 

 and carefully raise the little fellow up. 

 'Now if that one would only turn its head 



a little more.' Then he would whistle 

 and snap his fingers above the little 

 heads, as though it were real babies that 

 he was photographing instead of little 

 Hummers. Finally when they seemed 

 to be about right, he squeezed the bulb 

 and the picture was taken. It proved to 

 be an excellent likeness of the birds and 

 their home. We noticed while we were 

 near them that one little bird kept stick- 

 ing out a tiny tongue which looked much 

 like a needle and, thinking that they 

 might be hungry, I offered them some- 

 thing sweet. What do you suppose it 

 was?" 



"Candy?" instantly came from Teddy. 



"No, guess again, Teddy. Remember 

 that it was not a little boy that I was 

 feeding." 



"I'll give up. What was it, Auntie?" 

 replied Teddy, anxious that the story 

 should be continued. 



"A pink geranium blossom." 



"Oh, did, they eat it, Auntie?" came 

 from irrepressible little Ted. Both girls 

 laughed at the idea and Aunt Julia re- 

 plied, "No, Teddy, but the little tongues 

 were instantly darted out, and the little 

 bills were stuck into the centers of the 

 flowers, showing that they knew where 

 to find the honey, even though they had 

 not had a chance to try for themselves 

 before. You know that Hummingbirds, 

 sip the sweet juice from the center of 

 the flower; and I presume they enjoy it 

 as much as you do candy, Teddy. Only 

 a few days after this when we went to 

 look at the little birds we found that one 

 of them was gone." 



"Oh, did the kitty get it, Aunt Julia?" 

 asked Teddy. 



"No; it had flown away with its 

 mother, and we felt very sorry for we 

 had come to be very fond of the cunning- 

 little thing. Your cousin Helen took the 

 remaining bird in her hand and brought 

 it into the house. It sat upon her finger 

 for some moments and then suddenly 

 flew across the room and lighted upon 

 the top of the door. That was its first 

 attempt at flying, and I presume that it 

 felt verv smart about it. Helen carried 

 the little fellow back to its nest and left 

 him by himself that night." 



"I wonder if he was afraid," said 

 Ruth. 



in 



