EXPERIENCES WIth HiiHU MMINC- 
LR 
PY SHER BEIN Kk. [OB 
PHOTOGRAPH BY THE AUTHOR 
HOUGH the art-museums 
of Europe may have 
some treasures of which 
America cannot boast, 
our continent has the 
distinction of a mo- 
nopoly of the world’s 
supply of hummingbirds, the gems of all 
the feathered creation. Of these there are 
said to be some four hundred species—the 
four hundred we may well call them!— 
nearly all of which are peculiar to the 
tropical regions. Only eighteen cross the 
borders of the United States from Mexico, 
and occur only in our southwestern States, 
Fe J alow 
s 
*a 
4 
(3) 
except one, our familiar little “ruby- 
throat,” which is found throughout the 
United States and up as far north as Lab- 
rador. Nothing in bird-life is comparable 
with these wonderful tiny creatures. They 
are literally gems, in that their feathers 
flash brilliant, wonderful hues which vary 
as in the kaleidoscope at every angle of 
vision. Their motions are too rapid for 
the eye clearly to follow. Though they 
have no song, and emit only an insect-like 
chirp or squeak, the hummer, as a writer 
has prettily said, ‘““needs none. Its beauty 
gives it distinction, and its wings make 
music.” 
I 
