BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
185 
last week in May. A nest now before me measures a little over one 
inch and a half in heig'ht and one inch and a half in diameter ; the cavity 
is three-quarters of an inch wide and the same in depth. This nest was 
built on the uprig-ht limb of a beech tree, where for three consecutive 
years a pair of hummers reg'ularly nested, each season building- a new 
nest over the few remaining- frag-ments of their abode of the previous 
year. The white eg-g-s, never more than two in number, are elliptical in 
shape, equally obtuse at both ends and measure .50 by .33 of an inch. 
The period of incubation is about ten days. Occasionally, thoug-h 
rarely I think, two broods are reared in one season. Although these 
birds feed among the flowers of various plants, they prefer those of the 
horse chestnut, honeysuckle and trumpet vine. From the fact that these 
diminutive creatures are generally observed about flowering plants, the 
popular yet erroneous belief has arisen that they subsist entirely on the 
sweets of flowers. 
Food Notes. 
No. 
Date. 
locality. 
Food-Materials. 
1 
May 30, 1883 
West Chester, Pa 
Small worms and numerous small spiders. ♦ 
2 
May 30. 1883, 
Westchester. Pa 
Small flies and beetles. * 
3 
May 30, 1883 
West Chester, Pa 
Small flies and beetles.* 
4 
May 12, 1884, 
West Chester. Pa 
Small flies and beetles.* 
5 
May 14, 1884 
Westchester, Pa., 
Small green- colored beetles.* 
t) 
May 14, 1884 . 
Westchester. Pa 
Small green-colored beetles. * 
t 
May 14. 1884 
West Chester, Pa 
Small green-colored beetles.* 
8 
May 14. 1884 
Westchester. Pa., 
Small green-colored beetles and flies. * 
9 
May 14, 1884 
West Chester, Pa 
Small green-colored beetles and flies. * 
10 
May 14, 1884 
Westchester. Pa 
Small green-colored beetles.* 
11 
May 14. 1884 
Westchester. Pa 
Small green -colored beetles.* 
12 
May 14, 1884 
West Chester, Pa 
Small green-colored beetles.* 
13 
May 14. 1884 
West Chester. Pa 
Small green-colored beetles.* 
14 
May 14, 1884 
West Chester. Pa 
Small green-colored beetles and spiders. * 
15 
May 14, 1884, 
West Chester, Pa 
Small green-colored beetles and spiders. * 
16 
May 14, 1884, 
West Chester, Pa 
Small green-colored beetles and spiders.* 
17 
May 14, 1884 
West Chester. Pa 
Small green-colored beetles.* 
18 
Aug. 3, 1884 
West Chester, Pa 
Small black beetles. 
19 
Aug. 5, 1884, 
West Chester, Pa 
Small black beetles. 
20 
Aug. 5, 1884 
Westchester, Pa., * 
Small black beetles. 
In addition to my own examinations given in the above table, it might 
be added that in March and April, 1885, I shot seventeen of these birds 
in the Florida orange orchards and found that all had only insects in their 
viscera. May 14, 1886, I received from Mr. George Hartman of. West 
Chester, Pa., fifteen hummers which had been captured while feeding 
among the flowers of a horse chestnut tree. The stomachs of these 
birds, which were kindly examined for me by Prof. C. Y. Piley, ento- 
mologist, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., 
showed, chiefly, the remains of small spiders and some few coleopterous 
insects. 
^ These seventeen birds were all killed when feeding in horse-chestnut trees. 
