HUMMINGBIRD HOMES. 



It has been my privilege to be more or 

 less intimately acquainted with three 

 hummingbird families. With the first I 

 was so timid, fearing to disturb the 

 dainty owners of the home, that I only, 

 ventured a peep at long intervals and 

 contented myself with securing the nest 

 after the family had departed. 



The second was built some twenty feet 

 above ground on the limb of a large syca- 

 more tree, a knot of which it closely re- 

 sembled, with one huge leaf above it to 

 protect it from the weather, and I could 

 only observe it through an opera glass. 



The third, it was my good fortune to 

 discover some eight feet from the ground 

 on the branch of an apple tree, the nest 

 being formed of vegetable down stuck to- 

 gether with spider webs and covered with 

 lichens until it seemed a part of the ap- 

 ple limb. When discovered, it contained 

 two tiny eggs which resembled the small 

 beans used for baking, except that they 

 were translucent and ethereal looking, as 

 if a touch would break them. Two days 

 after the discovery, the eggs hatched, 

 and there lay the two smallest birdlings 

 I had ever seen. Such miniature un- 

 opened eyes ! Such tiny, funny, gaping 

 bills ! Such thread-like necks ! 



The hummingbird is the most easily 

 tamed of any of our wild birds, and the 

 tiny host and hostess of this dainty home 

 seemed rather to enjoy the daily inspec- 

 tion of their establishment. Flying to a 

 spruce tree twenty feet from the nest 

 they would preen their feathers and 

 calmly watch me while I, standing upon 

 a chair, would note the change from day 

 to day in the little occupant of the nest. 

 Usually but once a day was allowed for 

 inspection. Then, the whole family as- 

 sembled, each would mount the chair and 

 enjoy the cunning sight with appreciative 

 exclamations of "oh !" and "ah!" and 

 "how cunning" and "how he grows," 

 tlicn the nest was left to itself for twenty- 



four hours. Only now and then when 

 callers came was this rule broken. 



In each of the three families of hum- 

 mingbirds I have known well, one of the 

 tiny fledglings died a few days after 

 hatching. One might think this was due 

 to human interference had it not been 

 the case in the nest far out of reach. In 

 this case, the dead bird was discovered 

 on the ground beneath the nest. In the 

 other cases it was removed on the point 

 of a penknife as the parent birds did not 

 push the body out at once. 



The parent birds did one thing that I 

 could never understand. I observed it 

 through the opera glass in the nest far 

 above ground, and again in the apple 

 tree nest near at hand. The parent birds 

 would often stand upon the fledglings 

 and execute a sort of dance with wings 

 extended. They appeared to trample 

 upon the young with their feet as if to 

 massage them. So vigorous did this 

 treatment appear to be that I was fear- 

 ful lest they kill the little ones, and pos- 

 sibly this would account for the death of 

 one of the young from each nest I have 

 observed. One naturalist mentions hav- 

 ing seen this same sight, but gives no 

 explanation of it. 



Having the nest all to himself seemed 

 to agree well with the baby bird in the 

 apple tree. He grew amazingly fast and 

 the most wonderfully small green feath- 

 ers appeared on his little buff body, and 

 when he saw me looking at him he gave 

 forth the most diminutive of birdling 

 squeaks, and was altogether the most 

 fascinating and charming of creatures. 

 But the great world demands its due of 

 hummingbirds as of men. In that tiny 

 breast moved desire for larger life and 

 broader fields, and the tiny wings grew 

 responsive. 



One perfect day I watched the little 

 fellow all day, as the new-found joy of 

 life moved within him. He would sit 



