768 A Widow 
now at its height, I think, hut it would 
be impossible to do justice to it by any 
description. My neighbor, who one day 
stood beside me looking on, was moved 
to loud laughter. When the two beaks 
were tightly joined, and while the old 
bird’s was being gradually withdrawn, 
they were shaken convulsively, — by the 
mother’s attempts to disgorge, and per¬ 
haps by the young fellow’s efforts to 
hasten the operation. It was plain that 
he let go with reluctance, as a boy sucks 
the very tip of the spoon to get the last 
drop of jam ; but, as will be mentioned 
in the course of the narrative, his be¬ 
havior improved greatly in this respect 
as he grew older. 
On the 12th, just after the little ones 
had been fed, one of them got his wings 
for the first time above the wall of the 
nest, and fluttered them with much spirit. 
He had spent almost a fortnight in the 
cradle, and was beginning to think he 
had been a baby long enough. 
From the first I had kept in mind 
the question whether the feeding of 
the young by regurgitation, as described 
briefly by Audubon, and more in detail 
by Mr. William Brewster, 1 would be 
continued after the nestlings were fully 
grown. On the 14th I wrote in my 
journal: “ The method of feeding re¬ 
mains unchanged, and, as it seems, is 
likely to remain so to the end. It must 
save the mother much labor in going 
and coming, and perhaps renders the co¬ 
operation of the male parent unneces¬ 
sary.” This prediction was fulfilled, 
but with a qualification to be hereafter 
specified. 
Every morning, now, I went to the 
apple-tree uncertain whether the nest 
would not be found empty. According 
to Audubon, Nutt all, Mr. Burroughs, 
and Mrs. Treat, young humming-birds 
stay in the nest only seven days. Mr. 
1 The Auk, vol. vii p. 206. 
2 But Mr. Hoar, from whom Mr. Brewster 
had his dates, informs me that the time of 
hatching was not certainly known ; and from 
and Twins. [June, 
Brewster, in his notes already cited, 
says that the birds on which his obser¬ 
vations were made — in the garden of 
Mr. E. S. Hoar, in Concord —were 
hatched on the 4th of July, 2 and forsook 
the nest on the 18th. My birds were 
already fifteen days old, at least, and, 
unless they were to prove uncommonly 
backward specimens, ought to be on the 
wing forthwith. Nevertheless they were 
in no haste. Day after day passed. 
The youngsters looked more and more 
like old birds, and the mother grew con¬ 
stantly more and more nervous. 
On the 18th I found her in a state of 
unprecedented excitement, squeaking al¬ 
most incessantly. At first I attributed 
this to concern at my presence, but after 
a while it transpired that a young oriole 
— a blundering, tailless fellow — was 
the cause of the disturbance. By some 
accident he had dropped into the leafy 
treetop, as guiltless of any evil design 
as one of her own nestlings. How she 
did buzz about him ! In and out among 
the branches she went, now on this side 
of him, now on that, and now just over 
his back ; all the time squeaking fierce¬ 
ly, and carrying her tail spread to its 
utmost. The scene lasted for some min¬ 
utes. Through it all the two young- 
birds kept perfectly quiet, never once 
putting up their heads, even when the 
mother, buzzing and calling, zigzagged 
directly about the nest. I had seen 
many birds in the tree, first and last, 
but none that created anything like such 
a stir. The mother was literally in a 
frenzy. She went the round of her 
perches, but could stay nowhere. Once 
she dashed out of the tree for an in¬ 
stant, and drove a sparrow away from 
the tomato patch. Ordinarily his pre¬ 
sence there would not have annoyed 
her in the least, but in her then state of 
mind she was ready to pounce upon any- 
Mr. Brewster’s statement about the size of the 
nestlings, I cannot doubt that they had been 
out of the shell some days longer than Mr. 
Hoar then supposed. 
