. The birds of Washington; a complete, scientific and popular account of the 372 species of birds found in the state . mayseat himself under some flower-laden bush while these most beautiful littlebirds hover and perch within three or four feet of him. What appears to be the only other vocal accomplishment of this hummeris a somewhat long-drawn, raspingjiote, very loud and harsh for so small abird. This is made by the male, and, curiously enough, it is the love song THE RUFOUS HUMMER. 397 uttered while wooing his mate. Site perches quietly in the center of somesmall tree, apparently quite inse
. The birds of Washington; a complete, scientific and popular account of the 372 species of birds found in the state . mayseat himself under some flower-laden bush while these most beautiful littlebirds hover and perch within three or four feet of him. What appears to be the only other vocal accomplishment of this hummeris a somewhat long-drawn, raspingjiote, very loud and harsh for so small abird. This is made by the male, and, curiously enough, it is the love song THE RUFOUS HUMMER. 397 uttered while wooing his mate. Site perches quietly in the center of somesmall tree, apparently quite insensible to his frenzied actions. These consistin flying up to a very considerable height, and then dropping in a circularcourse to within a few feet of where she sits, h is on the downward coursethat he makeshis declarationof love, and ifit is clone toarouse her heought to be suc-cessful. Cer-tainly it is asound moststartling to ahuman being,when it ex-plodes unex-pectedly with-in a few feet ofhis head. It is almostunnecessary tosay that thenesting habitsof these littlebirds are of un-usual male is a. RUFOUS HUMMER AT NEST. disgracefully idle fell. never doing a stroke of work while the female isbuilding the nest, and leaving her as soon as the eggs are laid. It seems thatat least he might feed her while she sits so patiently upon her eggs; but no,he retires to some warm, sunny gulch and spends his time in selfish to say, the first nest-building occurs during the first week inApril, at which season sleet and cold rains are of not infrequent is long before the majority of the species have arrived from the South,and it would lead one to think that the first comers are already paired whenthe)- arrive. A nest containing two fresh eggs was found on the 14th ofApril, the eggs hatching on the 26th. On this last date it was raining intorrents with a bitter cold wind, yet the tiny young did not seem to suffer inthe least, altho frequently le
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