. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . of the nest at the usual place,where her constant coming has detached a j^iece of lichen and troddendown the fabric of the edge. The little birds raise themselves with flut-tering wings, and the parent, rising to her full height, turns lier billalmost directly downward, pushes it into the open beak of the young,and by working her gullet and throat discharges the food through
. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . of the nest at the usual place,where her constant coming has detached a j^iece of lichen and troddendown the fabric of the edge. The little birds raise themselves with flut-tering wings, and the parent, rising to her full height, turns lier billalmost directly downward, pushes it into the open beak of the young,and by working her gullet and throat discharges the food through thelong, hollow bill as from a squirt gun. Two days later, on the morning of the 11th, when went to the nest, one young bird had gone, but theother sat on the edge. As he came up, it flew like a bulletup to the roof of the barn, a few rods away. Undoubtedly the Hummingbirds live to some extent on 244 USEFUL BIRDS. the nectar of flowers. They are fond of sweetened watersand the sweet sap of maple trees, 3et the greater part oftheir food is probably insects. They are so active in thepursuit of insects and feed on such small species that it isdifficult to observ^e their fly-catching habits ; but they have. Fig. 102. — Young Hummingbirds nearly fledged, about two-thirds natural size. been detected, as Wilson sajs, darting Ijy the hour amongthe swarms of little insects that dance in the air on finesummer evenings. I have watched individuals hoveringabout the branches of trees and picking oft* small insects,apparently i)lant lice, or very small spiders. When kept fora time in conflnenient they have shown a liking for such fliesand gnats as could be found in their limited quarters ; andalmost invariably when stomachs have been examined theyhave contained small winged insects or spiders, or , who opened great numbers of these birds, found SONGLESS BIRDS OF OliCHARD AND WOODLAND. 245 them filled with insects about three times out of four. records the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1913
