184 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
Habitat .—Eastern North America to the plains, north to the Fur countries, and 
south, in winter, to Cuba and Veragua. 
Although fifteen distinct species of hummingbirds are given by Dr. 
Elliott Coues, as occurring within the limits of the United States, only 
one—the Euby-throat—is found east of the Mississippi river. Hum¬ 
mingbirds, as Dr. Coues observes, are peculiar to America. Species are 
found from Alaska to Patagonia. In tropical South America, particu¬ 
larly New Grenada, these beautiful feathered gems are most abundant. 
There are, it is stated, over four hundred different species of hummers 
known to scientists. 
The Buby-throated Hummingbirds, the smallest of all our feathered 
visitants, arrive in Pennsylvania about the first week in May and re¬ 
main until about the middle of September, when they migrate south. 
This species is common during the winter in Florida, where they also, 
it is said, breed. During the months of February, March and until 
about the 20th of April, I found these birds to be quite numerous in 
the orange orchards along the St. John’s river. Although humming¬ 
birds cannot be called gregarious, it is not at all uncommon, especially 
in the spring, to see a flock of twenty or more of these birds feeding 
among the flowers of some favorite tree. I have, at one time, counted 
thirty odd hummers, feeding, fighting and pluming themselves among 
the flowers of a single horse-chestnut tree. I have never seen the hum¬ 
ming bird alight on the ground, * * though it often rests on twigs and 
branches. When sitting in trees or bushes it may frequently be ob¬ 
served to spread out one wing and draw the quill-featliers through its 
bill. The nest, a beautiful cup-shaped structure, is composed of downy 
substances, chiefly of a vegetable character, covered externally with 
lichens “ which are glued on with the viscid saliva of the little workers;” 
in many instances the lichen coverings are strengthened by strands of 
cobwebs. The bird is not at all particular as to the situation which it 
chooses for nest-building. Sometimes it builds in a honeysuckle vine 
or a rose bush; at other times it erects a domicile in an apple or pear 
tree, usually, however, the nest is built on an oak or beech tree in the 
woods, and is placed mostly on the upper side of a horizontal limb. It 
is constructed by the united labor of both birds, who complete the work 
in five or six days. In this locality the nest is generally built about the 
* The following interesting extract taken from a letter sent me by Mr. Charles H. Eldon of Wil¬ 
liamsport Pa.. shows that this species has been seen resting on the ground: 
* ‘ Near my home is a field that in the summer time is used by a florist for the cultivation of flowers. 1 
have frequently repaired there in the evening when the hummingbirds were making their meal and 
seated myself quietly among the bushes (with opera glass in hand). The ruby-throats would come quite 
close, seemingly unaware of my presence, and dart here and there after their dainty food, or pause to 
sip a drop of nectar from some opening flower, ever and anon stopping for a short rest upon a stem or 
upon the ground. When they alight upon the ground they spread the tail to its full extent.' the end 
against the ground, the wings slightly drooped, resting on the tail, apparently for the purpose of steady¬ 
ing themselves. 1 have seen them playfully chasing each other, starting from the ground and after 
several sallies or playful banters returning to the ground sitting quite close to each other, when thus 
seated they fluff out their feathers and appear plump (sparrow like), quite the contrary to their appear¬ 
ance when perched upon a twig,’’ 
