Birds TiOga Oo, N.Y, Aldan Loring*. 
I 335. Ruby-tliroated Hummer. Common. 
I Found around the marshy and swampy places. 
One nest which I found was placed on a hori- 
zontal limb of a small maple in the woods. It 
is composed of downy substances and is cov- 
ered with bits of lichens wound on with 
cobwebs. It is deeply hollowed. The meas- 
urement of the nest is 7- 8 in. wide, 5-8 in. 
! deep. The eggs are two in number. The 
measurement of one in my collection is 1-2 in. 
by 5-10 in. The weight of a Ruby-throat’s 
body after it is skinned is 25 grains. 
Vt ^ Ot jQse> 18DO« p»84 
Nesting of the Ruby-throated Hum- 
ming Bird at Raleigh, N. C. 
The Ruby-throated Hummer (TrocMhts colu- 
hris) is quite a common bird here, but to any 
one not used to looking for nests, it might 
almost as well be extinct for all the nests lie 
will find. The birds begin building about the 
first week in May, and from that time to 
the end of June (May 11 to June 24 are my 
dates) nests and eggs may be found in various 
stages. If one knows a tree the birds have 
formerly .nested in, it is as well to look in the 
neighborhood, as the Hummer builds year 
after year in the same old spot, often only 
varying the exact position a few yards from 
last year’s nest. The nest is placed from 
seven to forty feet high, near the end of an oak 
limb, and is almost always saddled on the 
limb and not in a fork; when built in a pine 
the nest is placed on a dead twig or twigs, but 
on any other tree on a live limb — oaks are the 
trees most used, and pines next — thus out of 
twenty-five nests which I have recorded the 
tree they were in, fourteen were in oaks, 
seven in pines, and one each in poplar, maple, 
apple and hickory. After the eggs have been 
taken it doesn’t seem any good to look for the 
bird rebuilding near by, as I have tried to do 
this plenty of times, but never yet found a 
nest that I could suppose was the second at- 
tempt of a pair whose nest had been previ- 
ously taken. 
The nest can be found by watching the Hum- 
mers building but I find most nests by noticing 
whenever a Hummer seems alarmed at my 
: presence, and then carefully searching for the 
nest, which f have almost invariably found 
close by, but when it came to getting a set of 
eggs from the nest, I have often been found 
wanting. C. S. Briniley. 
•Q.&O. XV, Feb. 1890 p. 
Oct. 1884.] 
AND OOLOGIST 
119 
Ruby-throated Humming Birds. 
( Trochilus colubris.) 
One warm afternoon, (16tli of June, 
1874), I was collecting insects in Buffalo 
grove near this place, and becoming tired, 
had lain down to rest in the cool shade of 
a large oak. While lounging there, half 
asleep, my attention was suddenly attract- 
ed by a loud humming noise which I 
thought to come from a large beetle. In 
a moment I was on the alert, but could see 
nothing, and the noise quickly ceased, but 
in a moment it was repeated, and contin- 
ued for about fifteen seconds. In this way 
the noise alternated for some time. At 
times it would appear very close, then some 
rods away. Finally Madam Ruby- throat, 
for it was she, came within a few feet of 
my face and darted away to a large But- 
ternut, settling on what appeared to be a 
knot on a dead limb about fifteen feet from 
the trunk of the tree. She only remained 
there a few seconds, when she returned to 
me and darted at my face several times, 
and then returned to her seat on the dead 
limb. This was done four different times, 
and then I began to get the idea that that 
knot on the dead limb was a nest I had so 
often longed to see, and which I had spent 
many long hours searching for. It was 
but the work of an instant to climb some 
distance above so that the inside of the 
nest could be plainly seen. There on their 
snow white bed were two beautiful white 
eggs, which I have since shown to many 
admiring friends with pleasure. 
To get them safely to the ground was 
going to be a very difficult task, as the 
nest was fully twenty feet from the ground 
and the limb a slender one. The task, 
however, was accomplished by the aid of 
two long ladders tied together at the top. 
By standing on the top rung the nest 
could just be reached, and by making three 
trips the nest and eggs were brought safe- 
ly to the ground. Incubation had just 
commenced. The nest was such a one as 
only the Hummingbird can make, being 
composed of the soft down of the cotton- 
wood seed and covered with lichens, after 
the manner of the Wood Pewee. All the 
time we were around or near the nest, the 
female was ready at all times to show her 
pugilistic qualities by darting at our eyes 
and chirping, loudly for so small a thing. 
It seemed mean to rob the poor little thing 
of her treasures after she had defended 
them so bravely, and can only offer the 
old excuse — ; ‘The ends of science.” 
Three years later another nest was found 
in a ravine in a very remote part of the 
woods. At this particular place Hum- 
mingbirds had been very plentiful since 
their arrival in May; so early in the morn- 
ing of June 18th, I 'set out to find a nest 
if possible. The banks of the ravine were 
very steep and thickly wooded. A stream 
at one time had found its way through the 
bottom. Dead trees were numerous— a 
more desolate place would be hard to find. 
As I was passing along, a Hummingbird 
came buzzing about my head a moment 
and then darted away. Thinking she 
would return, I sat down on a large stone, 
and had scarcely waited a minute, when 
she returned and . flew at me a few times, 
and left as before. This time by close 
watching I saw her fly into the top of a 
dead Oak which I went to, and easily found 
the nest. It was placed on the upper side 
of a small limb where it forked, and was 
about thirty feet from the ground. After 
climbing to the nest, I sat on a large limb 
two feet from it. While in this posi- 
tion, the bird would fly very close to my 
head, remaining at the same place in the 
air for several seconds, chirping loudly all 
the time. Her notes consisted of one syl- 
lable, sometimes uttered two or three times 
in quick succession— something like tweet, 
tweet. She would even alight on her nest 
when it was within easy reach of me, and 
remain there until my hand was within four 
inches of her, when she would leave the 
nest quickly. This nest was built of down 
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