Birds and Nature, Vol 10 No. 2 [September 1901]

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Various. Birds and Nature, Vol 10 No. 2 [September 1901]

TO A HUMMINGBIRD

THE ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD (Calypte anna.)

LONGING

EXPERIENCES WITH “HUMMERS.”

MY HUMMINGBIRD

THE RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD (Selasphorus rufus.)

WHAT A LITTLE MOUSE SAID

ABOUT A SPARROW

THE WHITE-THROATED SPARROW (Zonotrichia albicollis.)

A PLANT THAT MELTS ICE

THE HUMMINGBIRDS. Maxime miranda in minimus!

EACH IN ITS OWN WAY

THE PARULA WARBLER (Compsothlypis americana.)

A DAINTY LOVER

A BIRD NOTE

GOLDENROD

BALLADE

TOURMALINE

THE STAR FISH

IN THE MEADOW

THE INDIAN ELEPHANT (Elephas indicus.)

THE WILD CLEMATIS

TOPSY

THE WALRUS (Trichechus rosmarus.)

TOUCHING INCIDENTS ABOUT PIGEONS

ON THE SAN JOAQUIN

THE BENGAL TIGER (Felis tigris.)

AD VESPERAM

Отрывок из книги

Buffon, writing of the Hummingbird, and his words do not refer to any single species, but to them as a group, says that “the emerald, the ruby and the topaz glitter in its garb, which is never soiled with the dust of earth, for, leading an aerial life, it rarely touches the turf, even for an instant. Always in the air, flying from flower to flower, it shares their freshness and their splendor, lives on their nectar, and only inhabits those climates in which they are unceasingly renewed.”

Of all the birds that might receive the appellation, “The Bird of America,” to none could it be applied more truthfully than to the Hummingbird. For of all the families of birds that are distinctively peculiar to the Americas the Trochilidæ, or the Hummingbird family, contains the larger number of species. There are over five hundred species inhabiting North and South America and the adjacent islands, from Patagonia on the South to Alaska on the North. The species is more numerous in the tropics and but seventeen are known to frequent the United States. Of these only one, the ruby-throated hummingbird, exhibits its beauty east of the Mississippi River, and but seven species have their breeding range chiefly or entirely within the United States.

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The high degree of intelligence possessed by the hummingbirds is shown in the construction of their nests. Some of the species make the nests “of such form or material as will serve to imitate natural excrescences of a branch, such as a knot or a pine cone.” Other species make a hammock-like nest that they suspend from cliffs by attaching spiders’ webs. Mr. Thomas M. Brewer writes: “Indeed, it is probable that there is no other family whose architectural achievements are more varied than those of the hummingbirds. These variations include not only the material of which the nests are made and the positions in which they are placed; but also the general style of their construction, exhibiting constant differences, in the several species, in the ingenuity and beauty displayed in each design.” Even individual species will change the usual plan of their nests in order to adapt them to the requirements of their environment. In favorable localities a new nest will be built each season on top of the old one of the year before. “The hermit hummingbirds fasten their elongated nests to one side of the extremity of long-pointed leaves for protection, it is supposed, against monkeys and other predaceous animals.”

The eggs of the hummingbirds, invariably two in number, are white and free from spots. Though very small they are large when compared with the size of the bird that laid them. It is claimed by most authorities that under favorable conditions two broods are raised each season.

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