6 
LAND OF SUNSHINE. 
and almost taken from the thickest clusters with the hand, if 
one takes the trouble to wait stock-still. It is not known to 
breed farther south than the higher mountains. The Rufous 
hummer is a golden green above, having a reddish gloss in 
some lights. The belly and under tail-coverts are of dull 
rufous or pale cinnamon. The wings are blackish, with a 
violet luster. A lustrous bird indeed, and well might it be 
coveted by the lover of precious stones. It is an animated 
diamond impossible of reproduction in carbon. 
Less glorious of tints, but very beautiful, is the Anna’s 
hummer, first referred to, which is common the year round. 
Like all the hummer family this bird follows the flowers. In 
winter it is in the orange groves ; late in the fall it finds its 
C M. Davis Eng. Co. Copyright 1897 by Daugherty & Grinnell. 
POISING AT THE NEST. 
sweet sustenance in stubble patches where the tardy weed- 
blossoms hold out inducements. They may be seen in pro¬ 
fusion flitting among the eucalyptus tops when in flower, or 
close to the ground among the petunias or nasturtions. They 
do not wait for a blossom to expand, for they pierce the petals 
of the buds at the apex or puncture them at the base. Their 
chief food is nectar, alternated with a meat diet furnished by 
tiny spiders and flies. After a gentle rain, when swarms of 
little flies, almost invisible, dance above the alfalfa, we have 
seen these birds eating them without stopping to count their 
victims or alighting for several minutes, taking them on the 
wing and not seeming to disconcert the cotillion. We have 
never seen any of the hummers walk, their slender toes being 
