. The birds of Washington : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 372 species of birds found in the state . ittlebirds ho\-er and i>erch within three or four feet of him. What appears to be the only cither vocal accomplishment of this hummeris a somewdiat long-drawn, rasping note, very loud and harsh for so small abird. This is made bv the male, and, curiously enough, it is the love song THE RUFOUS HU:kI]\IER. 397 uttered wliile wuoing his mate. She perches quietly in the center (^f somesmall tree, aijparently quite insensible to his frenzied actions. These consistin flying up t
. The birds of Washington : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 372 species of birds found in the state . ittlebirds ho\-er and i>erch within three or four feet of him. What appears to be the only cither vocal accomplishment of this hummeris a somewdiat long-drawn, rasping note, very loud and harsh for so small abird. This is made bv the male, and, curiously enough, it is the love song THE RUFOUS HU:kI]\IER. 397 uttered wliile wuoing his mate. She perches quietly in the center (^f somesmall tree, aijparently 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. It is on the downward coursethat he makeshis declarationof love, and ifit is (I cine toarouse her heought to be suc-cessful. Cer-tainly it is a sound most startling to ahuman being,when it ex-plodes unex-pectedly with-in a few feet ofhis head. It is aluKTStunnecessary tosay that thenesting liabitsof these littlebirds are of un-usual male is adisgracefulh idle fellow building the nest, and leavin. Photo byFinlcy andBohlman. KUFOUS : .\ 1 .\ never doing a stroke of work while the female isler as soon as the eggs are laid. It seems thatat least he might feed her while she sits so patienth up(:)n her eggs; but retires to some warm, sunny gulch and spends his time in selfish to say, tlie 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 ha\e arri\ed from the vSouth,and it would lead one to think that the first comers are alread\- paired wdienthe_\ arri\e. 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 wnh a bitter cold wind, yet the tiny young did mit seem to suffer intlie least, altho frequently left for as long
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