The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-05-20

| fornia winter lies In the fact that IL Is an
| open season for birds and flowers AS this
is written the air is filled with the squeal-
ing, chattering of humming birds. They
are all about me, now darting by within
| a foot OF my face, and one poises in the
air within reach of my hand. cycling me
curiously, perhaps wondering what l am
| saying. Others dash madly along, chas-
ing each other and fighting fiercely for
| the possession of two abutilon bushes in
a corner of the garden, where a chair and
lapboard constitute an outdoor study. The
| flowers are white, yellow and deep red,
| hanging like so many bells, and are
| never-ending source of attraction to the
| humming birds. which poise beneath them,
never searching the inner portion OF the
blossom, but thrusting their long. slender
| bills up between the petals which consti-
tute its base, where they find innumer-
able small flies to their taste.
| To attract the flies I have dropped sugar
and water on the flower bells. which the
| humming birds seem to understand. as L
often see them sitting on twig near me
| and thrusting out the long, hair-like
tongue. I have no doubt the sweetened
water is also to their taste, as 1t is ac-
ceptable to the young. OF all these hum
ming birds-some vivid green; others
with a patch of brilliant iridescent red
beneath the bill-that throng the garden,
are several who live here, and one named
Bob has for successive years perched on
the same twig of an orange tree and Is
naturally the one know best. He never
allows me to catch him, but have had
my hand within six inches of his little
body. I have fancied that perhaps he Is
the hummer I once possessed and released
found him one morning-if, indeed. he
Is the same one-in a nest In an orange
tree, about thirty feet from the tree
which he now occupies. strange object,
looking more like a fuzzy spider than a
bird, and tucked away in nest made OF
moss and the fine parts of seeds, and
so perfect in its imitation Of the orange
branch, upon which it rested. that it was
almost impossible to distinguish 1t; in
point of fact 1t was found by accident.
AS I stood looking into it the little birds
heard me, and thrust up their open mouths
in comical fashion; and thinking them
hungry I got some sweetened water and
fed them with it, using small twig for
mother bird returned and buzzed around
my face in a threatening manner; and
when L withdrew she alighted and
covered them, sinking down gently
upon them In this way she was photo
graphed, and when on the nest would per-
NIT me to almost touch her without NOV
ing Every day I fed the young birds with
sugar and water. and finally they would
hop to the rim of the nest when approach
ed, never displaying the slightest evidence
of fear.
They began to take lessons in flying. The
parent bird would sit on the nest or on
twig near by and use her wings, making
the humming sound but not rising; and this
the little birds initiated, clinging to the
nest with their delicate feet On the second
day I noticed that they rose into the air
five or six inches during this exercise, and
believing that they would soon leave the
nest I cut off the twig which held it from
the branch and carried II with its two &C.
cupants into the house. fastening 1t in the
window. The following day the birds left
the nest and began to follow me about, and
at once became the most beautiful of pets.
They were absolutely without fear. which
added to their charm, and constantly
darted about the room, searching for tiny
flies on the window or in the flowers. Very
soon when called they responded, and when
a finger was extended alighted upon it with
charming naivete. sitting and cycling the
person with their tiny breadlike eyes with
perfect confidence. Their favorite position
seemed upon the head: and when upstairs
a call would bring them down.
Rob Frequently came To the fable at
meals and would perch upon the sugar
bowl, clinging to the handle, down which
he slowly slid to flutter up again. Whether
he recognized in the bowl the source of
supply of all his food it would be difficult
to say, but certainly he was faithful to
it and affected the slippery handle as long
as he came to the table.
To describe all the actions and tricks of
these beautiful creatures would require
much space as nothing could exceed their
grace and vivacity. and visitors at the
house at this time were sometimes amazed
at the swish and rush of the hummers as
they darted through the air. One lady
whose spring bonnet a true likeness
of a flower garden was so attractive to one
of the birds that ii wished to alight upon
1t, and the wearer's blows with a fan at
the innocent mite came near ending its
career. as when some of the household
came to the rescue it was found that she
thought it was a bee of some new and
gigantic variety.
At night the humming birds retired to a
dark closet roosting on the edge of bas-
ket. never attempting to thrust their big
heads and long bills beneath the diminutive
wings for obvious reasons. Here they
slept all night and in early morning would
fly out into the room and awake me by
lowering in the air just over my face, fam
ming II with the wonderful wings. Some
times I would pretend to sleep on. but the
birds kept humming with an occasional
twitter until I opened my eyes, when their
activity was redoubled, and nothing could
have been palmer than their actions; they
wanted their breakfast. and at once, with
out delay.
The reason for this imperious and insist
ent demand was that I kept on a stand
glass of sugar and water; a broom splint
was the means to the end, and while the
hummers poised in the air fed them with
drops of nectar. they licking 1t up with
their long, thread-like tongues with evil
dar,f