CONCORD 
1910 
May 35 
°A 
one 
north-bound. 
migrant 
Love-flight 
of Ruby- 
throat 
Humming-bird 
He chases 
female about 
in dense 
bushes 
He makes 
three 
different 
sounds at 
once, 
A Black-poll Warbler singing in the oaks and elms 
near the house was the only north-bound migrant here to-day. 
As I was strolling through the garden about 8 o'clock 
this morning, I heard the shrill squeak of a Humming-bird 
coming from a syringa hedge. Approaching this, I was not 
a little surprised to see a male Hummer in hot pursuit of 
a female who was dodging about through the densest possible 
tangle of twigs in the very heart of a large syringa bush. 
For nearly a minute the two birds kept up their game of 
hide-and-seek without once showing themselves fairly. They 
took very short flights — often not more than 2 or 3 feet - 
from twig to twig. Then the female emerged with the male 
in close chase. She must have returned to the syringa 
bush after doubling back (although I did not see her 
again) for the male quickly came back and began the pendu¬ 
lum love-flight directly over it,swinging down and up in 
a deep curve a dozen times or more, his gorget expanded 
and glowing like a burning coal or a big ruby. 
Standing within two yards of the bush (which he just 
brushed at each downward swing) I distinctly heaii him make 
three different sounds at once . One was the shrill 
squeaking made at all seasons, by both sexes, when disturbed 
or excited, another the loud bee-like droning sound of wings 
4 > 
(sometimes varied to a sharp buying rather than a droning 
sound), the third a humming-top sound very like that made 
