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Nearly everyone knows the little hum- 
mer—the ruby-throated hummingbird, the 
books call it—which darts about in the 
garden from flower to flower. Its tiny 
wings move so rapidly that they appear 
only as a blur, and produce the humming 
sound from which the bird takes its name. 
The popular idea is that the hummer 
lives only on honey, gathered from flowers. 
This is a mistake. The bird does secure 
some honey, but its food consists mainly of 
the smal! insects which frequent the 
flowers. Some of these insects are injur- 
ious to the blossom, and the tiny bird ful- 
fils a useful function in destroying them. 
That the hummer is insectivorous is also 
shown by its habit of catching tiny insects 
on the wing, which is occasionally observed. 
So unafraid are hummingbirds of man 
that they will readily enter open windows 
of houses, if they see flowers within. [| 
have even read of their visiting the arti- 
ficial flowers on a lady’s hat when she was 
walking out, and other writers speak of 
their taking sugar from between a person’s 
lips. In a room they become confused, 
and, being so frail, are apt to injure them- 
selves by striking against objects. More 
than once I or members of my family have 
caught the frightened little waifs for their 
good, and released them in the open air. 
It is of no use to try to keep them in cap- 
tivity, unless, possibly, it were in a green- 
house where there were plenty of flowers, 
for no artificial food has ever been found 
which will nourish them. Yet even there 
they would probably kill themselves by 
flying against the glass. 
We may expect the little hummer in the 
Middle States or New England early in 
May each year. They seem to come 
paired, and resort each time to the familiar 
hunting-ground. At least we are apt to 
see hummingbirds in the same places year 
after year. By early June each pair has 
its dainty nest and two tiny white eggs 
hardly larger than peas. A favorite site 
for the nest is an old lichen-grown apple 
tree in an orchard, generally not high up. 
But often they will choose some shade tree, 
like a maple, in the garden or along the 
street. Sometimes if 15 Om a tree im a 
swamp or in deep woods. 
It was in the latter situation that | 
found my first occupied nest of the hum- 
mer, though, when a small boy, | remem- 
The Outing Magazine 
ber discovering the home of a pair that 
frequented our garden, saddled to the 
lower limb of a larch tree close by the house, 
but only after the birds had left it. It was 
one Memorial Day, and with a friend I was 
looking for birds in some tall white pine 
woods. My attention was attracted by a 
veery, or Wilson’s thrush, which flew up 
from the ground into a pine. Just as it 
alighted it was attacked in the most vio- 
lent manner by a tiny bird, which was so 
quick in its motions that | could hardly tell 
what was going on. The thrush, though a 
far larger bird, unable to rival such veloc- 
ity and deftness of attack, was driven off in 
ahurry. Naturally we assumed that there 
was a nest near, and sure enough, there it 
was, about two-thirds way out on one of the 
lower branches of the pine, some fifteen 
feet up, not in a crotch, but built on to the 
branch itself, as though it were a |:not or 
excrescence of the same. While we ex- 
amined it, the female buzzed and darted 
about our heads like an angry bee. As 
for the male, he did not put in his appear- 
ance, and | have reason to fear that he is a 
shirk. Since then | have found various 
nests, but I do not in any case recall seeing 
the male about when his wife was in dis- 
tress over the intrusion. Some writers 
state that he leaves to her all the care of 
eggs and young. Formerly he was very 
ardent in his protestations of affection and 
devotion, but now, as the flowers expand 
in greater profusion, he finds them more 
interesting than the prosaic duties of home. 
This home, howbeit, is one of the most 
remarkable and aritistc creations of all 
bird-architecture. It is a tiny, delicate 
cup, made of the softest plant-down, sad- 
dled upon some rather slender branch, so 
deftly that it seems a part thereof. The 
saliva of the birds is used to compact and 
secure the material, and likewise to coat 
the exterior with the gray-green lichens so 
generally found upon trees. This makes it 
so assimilate with the surroundings that 
it is a very difficult object to discover. 
And thereby hangs a tale. A gentleman 
had told me that, if 1 would call upon him, 
he would show me an occupied nest of a 
hummingbird in his orchard. When | 
came, he was out of town, but I thought | 
would see if | could not find the nest my- 
self. So I made inspection from tree to 
tree, and presently the female hummer 
