UNUSUAL EXPERIENCES AFIELD 105 



ing I was told by one of the oilmen that a neigh- 

 bouring farmer had just shot a hawk for carrying 

 away young chickens. The oilman knew the loca- 

 tion of the nest and thought the bird killed was the 

 female. We went to the spot. He climbed the tree 

 and found one egg in the nest, which he carefully 

 brought to the ground. We put it in the nest of a 

 hen that was brooding in a tool-house. I con- 

 sidered it a scurvy trick to ask a patient, law- 

 abiding hen to brood on the egg of her worst enemy, 

 but the egg had become so chilled during the length 

 of time it had been uncovered that it never hatched. 

 I have had two very intimate experiences with 

 hummingbirds. On the streets of our village one 

 morning a man who always made an effort to help 

 me about my work held his hands cupped together 

 before me, saying after the manner of the old 

 game: "Hold fast all I give you." What he 

 gave me was the body of a ruby throat. I thought 

 at first that it was dead, that he had brought it 

 so that I might make a minute examination of its 

 pluruage and anatomy or have its body mounted. 

 Before I reached the Cabin it showed signs of life, 

 so I put a drop of brandy into a few drops of water, 

 added a few grains of sugar and gave it a drink. 

 The time was late fall and there had been a heavy 

 frost the previous night. For some reason this 

 bird had been slow about migrating so it was 

 almost frozen to death. Wlien I saw that it was 

 reviving I carried it back of the Cabin, where I 



