Green, Greenish Gray, Olive, and Yellowish Olive Birds 
absurd belief that the tree swallow buries itself under the mud of 
ponds in winter in a state of hibernation. No bird’s breathing 
apparatus is made to operate under mud. 
In unsettled districts these swallows nest in hollow trees, 
hence their name; but with that laziness that forms a part of the 
degeneracy of civilization, they now gladly accept the boxes 
about men’s homes set up for the martins. Thousands. of these 
’ beautiful birds have been shot on the Long Island marshes and 
sold to New York epicures for snipe. 
Ruby-throated Humming-bird 
(Trochilus colubris) Humming-bird family 
Leng th—3.5 to 3.75 inches. A trifle over half as long as the Eng- 
lish sparrow. The smallest bird we have. 
Maie—Bright metallic green above; wings and tail darkest, with 
ruddy-purplish reflections and dusky-white tips on outer tail- 
quills. Throat and breast brilliant metallic-red in one light, 
orange flame in another, and dusky orange in another, 
according as the light strikes the plumage. Sides greenish; 
underneath lightest gray, with whitish border outlining the 
brilliant breast. Bill long and needle-like. 
Female—Without the brilliant feathers on throat; darker gray 
beneath. Outer tail-quills are banded with black and tipped - 
with white. 
Range—Eastern North America, from northern Canada to the 
Gulf of Mexico in summer. Winters in Central America. 
Migrations—May. October. Common summer resident. 
This smallest, most exquisite and unabashed of our bird 
neighbors cannot be mistaken, for it js the only one of its kin 
found east of the plains and north of Florida, although about four 
hundred species, native only to the New World, have been named 
by scientists. How does it happen that this little tropical jewel 
alone flashes about our Northern gardens? Does it mever stir the 
spirit of adventure and emulation in the glistening breasts of its 
stay-at-home cousins in the tropics by tales of luxuriant tangles 
of honeysuckle and clematis on our cottage porches; of deep- 
cupped trumpet-flowers climbing over the walls of old-fashioned 
gardens, where larkspur, narcissus, roses, and phlox, that crowd 
the box-edged beds, are more gay and honey-laden than their 
170 
