Evening star., 1925-08-09
This and That
BY Charles E. TrucetoeU.

No garden is complete without Il
Humning bird.
Certainly no creatu of air is more
genuinely welcomed each year than
this little bird. with its iridescent
plumage, long bill, rapid flight and in
teresting ways.
One does not have to be a naturalist
to enjoy watching a Humming bird.
What difference If you fall into the
popular error of thinking the bird
sucks nectar" from the flowers?
Any one, with the aid of an encyclo-
pedia, can correct that error. The big
point is personally watch the little fel-
low as he heads for a flower, prefer
ably Gladiolus.
I thought (until I read the encyclo-
pediai) that the Humming bird liked
the Glads because of the taste of their
pollen, but find the real reason is that
these flowers are of the deep shape
usually found in the tropics.
The Humming bird, as he heads for
the open blooms of some variety of
Gladiolus, is study in suspended ami
nation.
He darts across the garden at top
speed, as If to drive right into the
ilSdIl VI lilS ilO"ST, Dul "ISh NilillA
6 inches Of it, puts on the brakes,
and stops dead in the air.
Perhaps no other bird has this
power. His wings beat so rapidly that
they can scarcely be seen, any more
than the blades of an electric fan can
be individually glimpsed in motion.
Having spied his prey in the corolla,
the Humming bird slips into the open
flower and eats his breakfast, lunch or
Il - - \,
no set meals, but eats constantly.
\ X
And what do you think, children?
The dear little Humning bird IS de-
vouring antsl Cruel fellow, TO eat the
sweet little ants.
1t may come as shock to hundreds
of ladies who speak of the Humming
bird as sweet" darling" and dear"
to know that this dear little cuss lives
almost entirely on minute insects.
Such bugs" as go into flowers for
literally and figuratively. The En-
cyclopedia Americana says:
Such honey as may be taken with
| them Qnsects) seems to be gratefully
accepted, but the birds do not seek for,
nor suck the nectar from flowers, as
has been popularity supposed"
Now there goes another of our be-
| liefs,
We had always supposed the Hum
ming bird was after honey, that article
of food, to our mind, being more
seemly for such an ethereal creature.
l imagine the Humning bird eats
greedily the ants that flock around my
| flowers, particularly the Gladioh, and
! 1t is good riddance, for the ants are
| always up TO something.
One of the favorite occupations OF
ants is deftly placing aphids, or plant
| lice, on the roots Of Aster seedlings.
The Aster plant begins to wilt, from
no visible cause, but an inspection of
| the roots will show them covered with
white lice. Doses of tobacco water
poured around the roots sometimes is
effective.
| The Humming bird as stated, prefers
| the Glads to any other flowers in the
garden.
He visits each variety in turn, scorn-
| ing the great Hibiscus blossoms and
| humber blooms.
Whirr! Bill first. he darts at the
| Schwaben. huns his wings inches
from it, then proceeds in. No sooner
| in, than he is out, to go to the Ruff
| fed Glory.
In-out-then away to Panama.
| where he stands himself in the air for
| a second, looking into the heart of the
glorious pink flowers.
In-out! He goes on, then, to the
glory of Holland. In-out. He hur-
ries on to Flora, translucent in pink
and white. In-out again, and across
| the yard to the Primulinus, Maiden
blush, into whose small corolla he
dips.
| Thence he flies to the great, expand
ed flowers Of HALEY, before which he
stands in the air-then goes into. Out
| he huns, to visit in turn E. J.
| Shaylor, LIE Marechal Foch and Shell
Pink.
All this time Jack Spratt, the cat,
| has followed the Humming bird from
flower to flower, creeping along in
high hopes of capturing him. which
he will never do, as he is much to