RUBY-THROATED HUMMING BIRD. 
Trochilus colubris. 
Char. Above, metallic green; wings and tail brownish violet or 
bronzv ; chin velvety black ; throat rich ruby, reflecting various hues 
from in’ownish black to bright crimson ; belly whitish. Female and young 
without red on the throat, which is dull gray ; tail-feathers barred with 
black and tipped with white. Length 3 to 3X inches. 
JVest. In an orchard or open woodland ; placed on a horizontal branch 
or in a crotch; made of plant down firmly felted and covered exteriorly 
with lichens. 
Eggs. 2- ? ; white, with rosy tint when fresh ; 0.50 X 0.30. 
This wonderfully diminutive and brilliant bird is the only 
one of an American genus of more than a hundred species, 
which ventures beyond the limit of tropical climates. Its 
approaches towards the north are regulated by the advances of 
the season. Fed on the honeyed sweets of flowers, it is an 
exclusive attendant on the varied bounties of Flora. By the 
loth to the 20th of March, it is already seen in the mild 
forests of Louisiana and the warmer maritime districts of 
GeorMa, where the embowering and fragrant Gelsemium, the 
twindeaved Bignonia, with a host of daily expanding flowers, 
invite our little sylvan guest to the retreats it had reluctantly 
