OUR BIRD FRIENDS. 
Edited by Jno. H. Sage, Portland, Conn. 
Living Sunbeams. 
HARRY EDWARD MILLER, DERBY, CONN. 
O N a morning of mid-May I was standing near the pine woods, when 
a male ruby-throated humming-bird darted up to a wild columbine, 
which rested against my foot, and thrust his bill into all of the honey 
laden cups. For a moment there was a rivalry of color; the flowers with 
their soft crimson hue, and the bird with the light scintillating from his 
plumage. 
A sudden movement on my part caused a number of frightened squeaks 
from the bird, as he fluttered in front of me for an instant, undecided as 
to my being a part of animate or inanimate nature. But his decision was 
formed at last, for when I moved again he vanished more quickly than 
he had flashed upon the scene. Surely, I thought, one should not be in- 
clined to doubt the disappearance of the wood fairies when such visions 
are met with in our rambles. Those ethereal creatures of the imagina- 
tion must live once more in the form of the ruby-throated humming-bird, 
which is to be met with so often haunting those quiet woodland aisles, 
which seem to be adapted for the reposing place of Father Time, should 
he ever wish to halt in his journey. 
Later in the day, I was whistling in a dark and lonesome part of the 
woods to see if any of the forest birds would be attracted by the sound 
at the noontime hour. First appeared a group of ovenbirds; then a 
wood and hermit thrush, followed by red-eyed and yellow-throated 
vireos, accompanied by a great-crested flycatcher. Besides these, a 
yellow-breasted chat approached the scene in a cautious manner, while 
a pair of blue jays promenaded on the limbs of a white birch tree, flirt- 
ing their feathers and shrieking loudly, to the extreme disgust of 
the more decorous residents of birdland. 
Last of the throng to appear were two humming-birds, with their tiny 
bodies seeming almost lost in the giant treetops. [ have seen one of 
these diminutive creatures perched in the uppermost branches of a tall 
sycamore when the sky forming a background revealed most fully the 
symmetry of his form, which to me always suggests the noble contour 
of the eagle, though not every observer would expect to find a com- 
manding personage in such a tiny individual. 
BY 
OUR BIRD FRIENDS. 
i3S 
One of these woodland fairies settled upon the point of a dead limb, 
and I have noticed that humming-birds have a particular affection for 
the bare branches in preference to those clad with foliage. Such lofty 
outlooks are favored by the hawk and eagle, since from these situations 
they can best watch for their prey, and perhaps the humming-bird seeks 
such an elevated post on a bare limb for the reason that he can be 
on the lookout for the tiny insects which when swarming in the air are 
invisible to man. 
This seemed a most favorable day for meeting humming-birds in the 
woods; and I soon came to a cluster of white birch trees where one 
of these birds flitting about the branches appeared to be the only occupant 
of the grove. Yet there was a brown wood-frog basking on a patch of 
moss, and a tree-toad in the fork of a beech sapling, to keep the bird 
company. The group of birch trees remaining formed a monument to 
the forest of which they were once a part, and which with the advance 
of civilization had grown less and less to the present narrow limits of a 
diminutive woodland. The wood nymphs must certainly have vanished 
from the region long since, when they heard the ring of the woodcutter’s 
axe, and saw their forest melting away before man, who had usurped 
from them their dominion. The little pool hidden within, the cluster of 
birches is now choked with dead wood and an accumulation of autumn 
leaves, quite different from when it was strictly guarded and kept clear 
as the bathing resort of the wood nymphs. 
One of the most difficult birds to observe that it has ever been my for- 
tune to meet, was on a mid-August morning when I found a young hum- 
ming-bird perched on the top branches of a very tall ash tree. My at- 
tention was first called to him by his low squeaking notes, which 
sounded like the echoes of a cricket’s voice from the farther part of the 
woodland. The youngster did not have the activity so characteristic of 
his parents, but moved more leisurely from perch to perch, and as he 
seemed not unlike a bee, first appearing, then disappearing in the full 
leafed tree tops, the task of observing him was more difficult than with 
any bird which I have met in wood or field. My patient waiting was not 
rewarded by the appearance of the old birds, whom I expected every 
moment, with insects or the nectar from some flower to give the young- 
ster the breakfast for which he was calling. 
I know that many naturalists, as well as many who are not, believe the 
humming-bird to subsist entirely upon the nectar of flowers, quite inde- 
pendent of an insect diet. It is certain enough that they visit the flow- 
ers not only for the sweet juices, but the small insects which frequent 
the blossoms, while they seize other insects when making their flights, 
or dash from a dead twig of some shrub or tree to catch the unwary prey. 
But so rapid are all the humming-bird movements that these actions are 
