144 Field and Forest Rambles, 



CHAPTER VI. 



Habits and Haunts of the Ruby-throated Humming-bird — Migratory 



• Movements of Warblers — Swallows and their Migrations — Influence of 



Forest Clearing on the Habits of Birds — Birds abandoning their Young 



at the Migratory Season — Waxwings: their Love Gambols — Departure 



and Arrival of the Crow Blackbird — Loves and Courtships of Birds. 



OF all the strangers of the grove, of all the sweet messen- 

 gers of a Canadian spring, no one species recommends 

 itself to the notice of the student of nature more than the ruby- 

 throated humming-bird. This exquisite little creature, undis- 

 mayed by the still ungenial weather, and propelled by some 

 secret yearning to seek a temporary home in these wild woods, 

 arrives pretty regularly by the end of May, when the bud is 

 just opening out. Then, like a large moth, it announces its 

 presence at the drawing-room window by the sharp hum of its 

 wings as it flutters around the exotics, placed there to catch 

 the first warm sunshine. I well remember one forenoon, 

 shortly after my arrival in the country, when seated in the 

 garden enjoying the delightful prospect of early spring, that a 

 small green object shot past me, and before I could well direct 

 attention to its movements, another and another, refulgent in 

 glossy hues, were seen fluttering around the currant flowers, 

 now suspended over them — in one instant off — now perched on 

 a twig — then shooting away across the fence into my neigh- 

 bour's garden : hovering anon around the peach blossom, their 

 red sapphire breasts flashing in the bright sunlight with every 

 movement of their beauteous little forms. Such are my first 

 garden remembrances of the humming-bird. Were I to 



