HUMMING-BIRDS. 



137 



captivity, even in their own country, when fed only on 

 syrup. Audubon states, that when thus fed they only live 

 a month or two and die apparently starved ; while if kept 

 in a room whose open windows are covered with a fine 

 net, so as to allow small insects to enter, they have been 

 kept for a whole year without any ill-effects. Another 

 writer, Mr. Webber, captured and tamed a number of 

 the Euby-throat in the United States. He found that 

 when fed for three weeks on syrup they drooped, but 

 after being let free for a day or two they would return 

 to the open cage for more of the syrup. Some which 

 had been thus tamed and set free, returned the following 

 year, and at once flew straight to the remembered little 

 cup of sweets. Mr. Gosse in Jamaica also kept some in 

 captivity, and found the necessity of giving them insect 

 food ; and he remarks that they were very fond of a 

 small ant that swarmed on the syrup with which they 

 were fed. It is strange that, with all this previous 

 experience and information, those who have attempted 

 to bring live humming-birds to this country have fed 

 them exclusively on syrup ; and the weakness produced 

 by this insufficient food has no doubt been the chief 

 cause of their death on, or very soon after, arrival. A 

 box of ants would not be difficult to bring as food for 

 them ; but even finely-chopped meat or yolk of egg 

 would probably serve, in the absence of insects, to supply 

 the necessary proportion of animal food. 



Nests. — The nests of the humming-birds are, as might 

 be expected, beautiful objects, some being no larger inside 

 than the half of a walnut-shell. These small cup-shaped 

 nests are often placed in the fork of a branch, and the 

 outside is sometimes beautifully decorated with pieces of 



