BUZZ.” 
By Stoddard Goodhue. 
A UU through the summer I watched a 
pair of humming birds as from time 
to time they visited the canna-beds on the 
lawn. It was curious and interesting to 
see them play together on a bright day. 
On one occasion in particular the female 
who could readily be distinguished by her 
plainer attire — alighted on the tip of a 
spike of Spanish bayonet that stood in 
the center of a canna-bed, and the male 
disported himself about her like one pos- 
sessed. He would glide upward to the 
height of twenty or thirty feet above her 
perch, and then descend like a bullet al- 
most to her side, instantly rebounding to 
about the same height as before. It was 
as if he had been suspended by a rubber 
thread, the elasticity of which caused him 
to bound back and forth through the air. 
But the motive power really lay, as I well 
knew, within the body of the little hum- 
mer, — nay, more, it lay in his 
warm little heart; for these curi- 
ous evolutions were plainly 
enough a species of ether- , 
eal caress. The little help- 
mate appreciated it, too, 
for she flirted her wings 
joyously each time her 
mated lover dashed by 
her. Meanwhile the lov- 
er, as he passed, whis- 
pered sweet nothings in 
tones that no 
doubt were to 
her aao 1 i an , 
but which 
sounded to hu- 
man ears more 
like the chirp- 
ing of an in- 
sect. But who 
could be cruel 
enough to ap- 
ply ordinary tests to the timbre of a 
lover’s voice? 
Uet me rather hasten to affirm my be- 
lief that these caresses and whisperings 
were no mere ordinary lover's vows, but 
the far more significant evidence of happy 
wedded life ; for I feel assured that the little 
birds had already entered upon their do- 
mestic duties. Indeed, I have a theory 
that the exceptional evolutions were in 
token of unusual rejoicing on 
the occasion of the birth of 
a son and heir to the well- 
mated couple. And this off- 
spring — so my imagina- 
tion will have it — was 
none other than the dear 
little fellow whose par- 
tial biography I am about 
to narrate. At all events 
I saw the couple oftener 
after this, and though I 
“BUZZ." 
57i 
did not see the nestling with them, that is 
explained by the supposition that he was 
made to shift for himself very soon after 
he learned to fly. 
I kept an eye out for the youngster, and 
presently he appeared. There was no mis- 
taking him, for though he looked almost 
precisely like his mother he was very 
much more guileless than she, as he proved 
by allowing me to approach him almost at 
will. As I stood close beside him on sev- 
eral occasions, while he hovered from 
flower to flower, I could not help longing 
to have him for a pet. At last, unable to 
resist the temptation, I made him captive 
with a butterfly -net, which I swept over 
him while his quick eye was momentarily 
hidden in the depths of a canna flower. 
As he lay in the meshes, he set up a plain- 
tive little wail that made me regret my 
act, but a moment later he cuddled in my 
hand confidingly. Placed beneath a bell- 
jar, he was found to be uninjured. Nor 
did he seem greatly frightened after the 
first few moments of his unex- 
pected captivity. Pie did 
not quite appreci- 
ate the nature of 
glass — as who 
would on first ob- 
servation ? — and 
once or twice attempted 
to fly through it ; but find- 
ing it impenetrable, he ac- 
cepted the situation, and 
perched composedly on a 
flower that I thrust into 
his prison. Transferred 
to a large cage with fine 
meshes he showed even 
better judgment, explor- 
ing his new home leisurely, and never 
so much as touching one of the bars. 
After an exploratory flight he perched 
on a twig and seemed quite at home. 
The problem of feeding proved equally 
simple. Within an hour after his cap- 
ture the little bird sucked sugar from my 
lips with avidity and a little later he fed 
from the mouth of a medicine-dropper 
containing simple syrup as freely as if 
all the flowers of his experience had been 
of that pattern. The dropper being fas- 
tened through the meshes of the cage, a 
perpetual reservoir of sweets was supplied. 
From this the hummer continued to regale 
himself. Only one thing, I think, sur- 
prised him. It was not that nectar should 
appear in glass tubes. That was to be 
expected — what else could glass tubes be 
made for ? But in the little bird’s previous 
experience he had known nothing of a 
flower that bore honey in unlimited sup- 
ply. So sometimes after a vigorous 
draught he would withdraw a few wing- 
beats from the tube and examine it criti- 
cally, 110 doubt wondering if it would hold 
out forever. Then he would chirp a cricket 
note of satisfaction and gratitude 
and return to the banquet. An- 
other dropper supplied water, but 
this was seldom touched unless 
the syrup proved too thick, in 
which case the little bird invari- 
ably flew to the water tube to di- 
lute it. How he learned to do this 
I cannot imagine, as the nectar of 
flowers is always supplied ready 
for use, but this was only one of 
many ways in which he proved him- 
self a wonderfully wise little bird. 
As cage life seemed to 
agree so well with the hum- 
mer, I no longer had any 
misgivings about adopting 
him permanently, so I 
christened him “Buzz.” 
No one who heard him buzz- 
