THE RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD 
By MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT 
The National Association of Audubon Societies 
Educational Leaflet No. 56 
When the cherry blossoms have fallen and the buds in the tumbled- 
down old apple-orchard are showing pink tips, when the gold-and-black 
Baltimore Oriole is calling plaintively to his belated lady-love, and the 
rich song of the unseen Rose-breast falls from the tree-tops, with a whirr 
and a flash a jewel set in a bit of iridescent metal- work slants across the 
garden, and we say with bated breath “The Hummingbird has come.” 
A HUMMINGBIRD’S DOWNY CRADLE 
In this case the has a very definite meaning; for in the length and 
breadth of the country that lies between the Mississippi and the Atlantic, 
and between Florida and Labrador, there is but one species of humming- 
bird — that of the Ruby-throat. (The twilight-flying creature so often 
mistaken for a Hummingbird is, in truth, a hawk-moth.) 
When a pair of Hummers first make up their minds to share your 
garden you will have many chances to watch them before nest-building 
makes them more elusive. The Hummingbird has the reputation of being 
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