our common every day residents, but I am frequently confronted 
with the idea, that there are several sorts of Humming Birds to 
be found here. We have only one species, i. e., the Ruby 
Throat, the male alone has the brilliant throat, but the female is 
even more frequently seen with her simple green back and head, 
white throat and under parts. 
We have also the Night Hawk, and the Whip-poor-will; the 
points of difference are clearly noted in all books on this subject, 
still it seems that they are not well understood and I will venture 
to state them. 
The Night Hawk has white spots on the wing, Whip-poor- 
will none; The Night Hawk has tail slightly forked, Whip- 
poor-will rounded ; The Night Hawk has no hairy like feathers 
at its mouth, Whip-poor-will has them ; The Night Hawk flies 
high, Whip-poor-will skims low. v 
We have with us the Purple Martin, the Chimney Swift, and 
four species of swallows, five species of sparrows, and eight 
species of warblers ; our resident Tanager with his brilliant scar¬ 
let body, his black wings and tail, is simply tropical in his color¬ 
ing. 
We have two kinds of Cuckoos, and both of them build their 
own nest and rear their own young, while the fact that they 
eagerly devour hairy larvae, refused by most birds, make them 
our worthy friends. 
Our birds, like individuals, have their eccentricities; they 
show them in part in their nesting habits. A friend who has 
climbed to the nest of many a Fish Hawk, finds in most of them 
an old shoe. The Great Crested Fly Catcher weaves always into 
her nest, the cast off' skin of a snake. Our Vireos make pretty 
cup shaped nests, suspended between the forked twigs of some 
bush, or low tree ; they are among the most beneficial of our 
birds, actively and continually searching for insects and larvae. 
The Yellow Warbler weaves a model cup, compact, with fine 
grass, cotton and woolly material lined with caterpillar silk, hairs 
and down of plants. Into this dainty receptacle the Cow Bird 
often drops her egg ; this intrusion is resented by the Warbler, 
who will often add a second story to the nest completely covering 
the obnoxious egg and I have seen a nest that had three stories. 
The dainty Warbler had been twice imposed upon by the Cow 
Bird, but finally came off triumphant, 
