Ruby-throated hummingbird

“ The most dainty structure built, in this country, by the bill and feet of birds, is the nest made by the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. When completed it is scarcely larger than an English walnut, and is saddled on a small horizontal limb of a tree, often many feet from the ground. It is composed almost entirely of soft plant fibres, fragments of spiders' webs sometimes being used to hold them in shape. The outer sides are thickly studded with bits of lichen, and practised, indeed, is the eye of the man or woman that can distinguish it from a knot on a limb. ”

“ When the late tulips and narcissi are blooming in the garden, and you hear a tense humming near them, varied by an occasional squeak, you know, Without looking, that the Hummingbirds have come. All through late May they dart here and there, now among the flowers, and then disappearing high up in the trees, searching for both honey and aphides with their proboscis-like tongues, while their movements exceed in dash and rapidity even the Swallows and Swifts. They seem merely to will to be in a certain spot, and they are there without efiort. ”

“ R573564.R573564. Ruby throated hummingbird; from the 1947 wildlife conservation stamps. By National Wildlife Federation, employer for hire of Walter A. Weber. © 7Feb47; K9339. National Wildlife Federation (PWH) ”

“ Eastward its range extends to Western Montana, Western Colorado, New Mexico, and Western Texas. In some portions of this range it is very abundant, while in others that are apparently as well suited to its habits it is rare, or never seen at all.
This Hummingbird, which also bears the name Purple-throated and Alexandre’s Hummingbird, is very similar in its habits to our eastern ruby-throat. Even in its call notes and antics while wooing its mate it is almost a counterpart of the eastern species. ”

“ I have found it on pitch-pines in the woods, on roadside maples,—shade-trees,—and especially in apple and pear orchards. The mother bird is very apt to betray its whereabouts by buzzing about the head of any one who comes near it.
RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD
1, 2. Males. 3. Female. 4. Young
[53] Last May, for example, I stopped in the middle of the road to listen for the voice of a house wren, when I caught instead the buzz and squeak of a hummer. Turning my gaze upward, I saw her fly to a half-built nest on a maple branch directly over my head. ”

“ This ornament,—a real jewel,—with the lovely shining green of the bird’s back, makes him an object of great beauty.
Every one knows him, or would do so only that some people confuse him with bright-colored, long-tongued hummingbird moths that are seen hovering, mostly in the early evening, over the flowers of the garden.
The ruby-throat spends the winter south of the United States. He arrives in Florida in March, but does not reach New England till near the middle of May.
[52] Many persons seem to imagine that the hummer lives on the wing. They have never seen one sitting still, they say. ”

“ I saw the bird, not only on this occasion but dozens of times afterwards, pick the insect from off the tree, often killing it in the act; and found the stomach, on being opened, filled with various species of winged insects.
The habits of the three species differ widely. The Red-backed Hummingbird loves to flit over the open prairies, stopping at every tempting flower, to catch some idler lurking in its nectar-cells. Building its nest generally in a low shrub, and close to the rippling stream, it finds pleasant music in its ceaseless splash. ”

“ The humming bird is the latest visitor to come to us in summer. This diminutive aerial voyager is one of the most charming of the migratory tribe, and worthy all the admiration that has been lavished upon it. It loves to sport in the flower gardens, where it sips the nectar from the honeycups of Flora's train. Only one species comes to us, the well-known ruby-throat. ”

“ A widely seen hummingbird east of the Great Plains, the ruby-throats are exquisite bits, capable of incredible flight, moving in any direction on wings vibrating faster than sight or able to hover motionless while spectators are breathless. ”

“ They will frequently fly as high as one hundred feet immediately above the vicinity of the nest, repeating the performance several times before alighting on some perch. The female is a faithful mother and will often remain on her nest until an intruder is within a few inches. The nest, though sometimes placed on large branches, is usually built but a few feet from the ground in low bushes or boughs that overhang water.
In their migrations southward the Broad-tailed Hummingbird is frequently found in company with the rufous-backed species, for which it shows an especial animosity. ”

“ It takes a hummingbird several days of hard work to make a nest, because she can bring only a little at a time. She does it alone too; her mate has not been seen to help her at all.
I think the male ruby-throat does not help in the nest-building because the little mother will not let him. She knows just how the cradle is to be made, and she doesn't want him to bother her. She likes to have her nest to herself just as she likes to have her honeysuckle to herself. ”

“ But it did not matter whether we had a late or early spring, the humming336birds did not come until the Ribes opened; and in no single instance did two whole days elapse after the blossoms expanded, but Selasphorus and Calliope arrived to bid them welcome. The males usually preceded the females by four or five days.
The Black-throated Hummingbird arrives about a week or ten days after the other two. Marvellous is the instinct that guides and the power that sustains these birds (not larger than a good sized bumblebee) over such an immense tract of country ”

“ There are over one hundred species of these birds. They are graceful in all their motions and very active in their habits. Like the hummingbirds, they flit from flower to flower, feeding on the minute insects which are attracted by the nectar, and probably to some extent on the honey, for their tongues are fitted for gathering it. However, their habit while gathering food is unlike that of the hummingbird, for they do not hover over the flower, but perch upon it while feeding. The plumage of the males nearly always differs very strongly from that of the females. ”

“ When the Hummingbird says ‘Go!’ other birds stand not upon the order of their going, but go at once; while the little warrior sometimes accelerates their flight, for his sharp beak is a weapon not to be despised. Even the Kingbird goes when the war-like Hummer comes; the English Sparrow flees in terror; only the Woodpeckers stand their ground.” [103]
Hummingbirds are not only fearless and pugnacious, but they are very inquisitive. ”

“ Perhaps they attribute the same intelligence to us that some of us do to them!
While the blackbirds were making such a time over our heads, I watched the hummingbirds buzzing around the petunias and pink roses under the ranch-house windows, and darting off to flutter about the tubular flowers of the tobacco-tree by the well. One day the small boy of the family climbed up to the hummingbird's nest in the oak "to see if there were eggs yet," and the frightened brood popped out before his eyes. ”

“ Among the most formidable enemies of the Humming-bird may be reckoned the Monster Spider, which spins its web round their nests, and devours eggs or young; even the old Birds are sometimes its victims.
Humming-birds are scattered over the greater part of South and North America, even as far north as Canada; but in Brazil and Guiana they are most abundant. At least 500 species are known. Among the more remarkable species we may note the Topaz-throated Trochilus, a native of Brazil ”

“ The Ruby-throated Humming-bird (Trochilus colubris) , our only New England species. The Humming-birds are peculiar to the New World; hence the wonder and interest with which they were regarded by the early explorers and colonists. There is a letter from Emanuel Downing to John Winthrop, Jr., of the 21st of November, 1632, in which is this paragraph: “You have a litle bird in your contrie that makes a humminge noyse, a little bigger then a bee, I pray send me one of them over, perfect in his fethers, in a little box.” ”

“ The hummingbird is the most pugnacious bird in America. If he were as big as a crow, he would be a terror to man and beast, for he is afraid of nothing. This spirited mite of a bird will even attack an eagle, who is big enough to eat him at a mouthful. He beats him too, for he comes down on top of his head, where the big, clumsy fellow cannot get at him. There he pecks and pulls out feathers till the eagle is glad to get out of his clutches. ”

“ The frail Hummingbird has no real strength to fight enemies bigger than its tiny self, but it has been given for protection the power of flying as quick as a whizzing bullet, and courage enough to attack even a Kingbird in defence of its nest, which is a tiny circle of down, covered with lichens, and is so fastened across a branch that it looks like a knot of the limb itself. ”

“ It seemed as if she would be worn out before night, but her eyes were bright and she looked vigorous enough to build half a dozen houses.
"There's odds in folks," our great-grandmothers used to say; and there certainly is in bird folks; even in the ways of the same one at different times. Now this hummingbird was content to build right in front of my eyes, and the hummer down at the little lover's tree, with her first nest, was so indifferent to Billy and me that I took no pains to keep at a distance or disguise the fact that I was watching her. ”

“ It is also aided in ensnaring insects by the long, bristle-like whiskers at the base of the mouth. It will catch and swallow the largest of the night-flying moths, and though it seems almost incredible small birds not infrequently form a part of its diet. An observer found in the stomach of one “among an indistinguishable mass of brownish matter, a small bone, about half an inch long.” In another stomach he found the remains of a hummingbird only partially digested and well enough preserved for him to identify the species. ”

“ The swallows and swifts are almost constantly on the wing, dexterously catching any insects that come in their way. They are day birds and at night are replaced by the nighthawks that feed upon the night flying insects. Next are the flycatchers that dart “from ambush at passing prey, and with a suggestive click of the bill, return to their post.” The beautiful little hummingbird, ever active on the wing, quickly sees and picks from leaf or flower insects that would escape the attention of other birds. ”

“ Some of them look more like bugs than birds when they first come from the shell. The method of feeding the young is mostly by regurgitation; at least such is the habit of the Ruby-throat, and no doubt many others of the family follow the fashions of the Humming-bird land. The process is as follows: The parent bird thrusts her long bill far down into the throat of her bantling, and then, by a series of forward plunges that are really terrible to witness, the honey food is pumped from the old bird's craw into that of the youngster. ”

“ The female has none of the ruby patches on the head, but retains a little of the topaz on the throat."
This species lives in the West Indies, and in various parts of South America. "It is in great request for the dealers, and thousands are killed annually. No species is so common as this in ornamental cases of humming-birds." Humming-birds are not only used for cabinet-specimens, but for various purposes of embellishment. The feathers are used to make flowers, pictures, and other ornaments. The birds are killed in various ways. Some are shot ”

“ If we desire to study the Broad-tailed Hummingbird in the regions that it frequents, we must journey to the mountainous district of Western North America. Here it may be found in large numbers, for it is the most common of all the species that frequent the mountains. It seeks its food of insects and honey from the flowers of a prolific flora extending from Wyoming and Idaho southward through Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and over the table lands of Mexico into Guatemala. ”

“ The well known hummingbird manner of buzzing up to a flower and dipping in the beak while on the wing is a fixt rule with all the adults; but when first learning to secure food for themselves the young birds find this rather too much for them. ”

“ Black-chinned Hummingbird.—The first specimen met with was a female which, with a nest and two eggs, was taken at Tucson on April 23. The species was also found breeding among the Santa Rita Mountains, as well as near Camp Lowell. At all these points it was decidedly the most abundant of the Hummingbirds.
Six of the seven examples collected are females, and Mr. Stephens remarks on the apparent absence of the males during the breeding season. ”

“ The wings do not seem to be made of feathers, but of gauze, like those of insects. I never really saw the feathers until I held a dead hummingbird in my hand. Its iridescent body seems made of burnished metal.
It is wonderful that so tiny a creature can wing its way from Central America to the heart of Canada. It seems to know no fear; it is quite able to defend itself with its long sharp bill. Mr. Forbush says: “The males fight with one another, and, secure in their unequalled powers of flight, they attack other and larger birds. ”

“ Hummingbirds are so distinct from other birds in their external structures and manner of flight that they present in every respect, except when at rest, an appearance entirely peculiar to themselves. They spend perhaps the greater part of their time upon the wing, usually hovering or balancing themselves before a flower from which they are procuring their sustenance of honey or of minute insects. ”

“ I had never before seen a hummingbird fly so slowly nor heard from one of them such a prolonged vocal sound. Indeed, it is very rare that one hears the hummingbird’s voice, even if one is on the alert for it. After the tenth swoop there was a buzz of wings and both birds had vanished. A minute after I found the male in a cherry tree sipping honey from the blossoms. ”