44 T Hite AsU-D VU BONS Bh Lees 
eagerly. Several times during the afternoon it fed but with no 
movement of the wings. 
Charles Hopkins, a twelve year old boy, took the bird home 
that night and I was unexpectedly called out of town for four 
days. Charles tells what treatment was given to the humming 
bird for the next six days. 
“The first day of captivity the little bird had a second fright 
in the journey home in the fish bowl. Soon he gathered 
strength and flew out of the uncovered bowl to a height of two 
feet from the table on which it was placed, then fell heavily to 
the floor his strength being spent. 
“For two days after this little incident, the bird was fed 
regularly about seven times a day with the sugar and water 
mixture, sticking out his long tongue but never perceptibly 
opening his bill. He seemed to enjoy feeding from the depths 
of a petunia, or gently sucking the end of a cloth-covered tooth- 
pick dipped in home-made nectar. Soon another article of food 
was added to his diet, some of the little aphids often found on 
the stems of asters. 
“From the first he improved rapidly, particularly in the 
regaining of his equilibrium. Before many days had passed he 
was able to perch on a toothpick with perfect ease. His wings 
also increased in strength. The interior of the bowl was a 
splendid place for him to try wing practice. Often our entire 
family was startled by a hollow humming noise, better heard 
than described. Upon inspection he proved to be but moving 
his wings so rapidly through the air that a humming sound was 
produced, and made much greater by the shape of the bowl in 
which he was confined. 
“One afternoon he opened his sharp beak for the first time 
to a width of half an inch. He seemed to want something to 
eat which we were unable to give him. His strength increased 
daily and he made repeated short flights about the room. 
Perching on a tiny twig after its bath, it hummed continually 
in its efforts to dry its silky green wings. I took him out among 
the salvia plants where he was very fond of sipping honey from 
them with his long beak. The tiny twig which was tightly held 
by his feet suddenly became very buoyant as his wing move- 
ments continued. Suddenly I let go of the stick intending to 
let the humming bird fly to the ground. The twig alone reached 
the ground for the little bird rose slowly and steadily through 
the air, looking precisely like a giant green and white bumble 
bee, with its tail turned straight down to the ground. Present- 
ly he rested on a twig about twenty feet high where the pleasant 
humming of his wings could plainly be heard. Here he rested 
for about five minutes, then suddenly flew like a streak, so fast 
I lost sight of him. I lingered about the spot for nearly half an 
