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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



although they seem to fly much more rapidly on account of their small 

 size, it is perfectly evident to one who studies their flight carefully that 

 they travel at the rate of 30 to 50 miles an hour. The hummingbird is 

 rather pugnacious and rarely permits others of the same species, or any 

 birds, to approach his nesting site. When chasing away intruders, he 

 usually utters a rapid chirping note while making the attack. Many 

 people have maintained that they have never seen a hummingbird at 



rest except upon its nest, but 

 it frequently alights on dead 

 twigs and telegraph wires and 

 will often sit for many minutes 

 sunning and preening itself on 

 the lofty twigs of dead trees in 

 the forest. The nest of this 

 species is one of the most beauti- 

 ful constructed by any of our 

 native birds. It is composed of 

 the fluffy fibers from seed gossa- 

 mers, the downy covering of 

 young fern leaves, and other 

 soft cottony substances, which 

 are bound together with spiders' 

 webs and the whole carefully 

 covered with green and gray 

 lichens so skilfully that it resem- 

 bles a small, mossy knot. It 

 is usually saddled upon a branch about the size of a walking stick or on 

 the horizontal crotch of a limb from 6 to 40 feet from the ground. The 

 eggs are always 2 in number, pure white in color, nearly elliptical in shape, 

 and average .50 by .36 inches in size. The young at first have com- 

 paratively short, stubby beaks and are nearly naked, but the feathers 

 rapidly develop and the beaks become longer and slimmer. In 10 days 



Photo by Clarence F. Stone 



Young of Ruby-throated hummingbird 



