Evening star., 1947-09-03
This and That
BIZ Charles E. Trdce1pell
g STREET.


Dear Sir: ~a%
Let me know how much longer Will have
the ruby -throated humnlingbird.
This bird has been great surprise to me-
to find him here every day in my little oacK
yard with the high board fence.
when I moved in here, I did not expect
many birds, but we have about dozen species.
including one cardinal, and one day we even
had a wood thrush, but I haven't seen him
since.
"The i1ummingbirds catch my fancy most
7 don't know whether it is because they are so
small or because they come to our Wlnoo"
box where I can watch them at close range.
"One evening the male settled down for
about five minutes on the rim OF the box
us it unusual for hummingolrd to percn!
yours truly, L. K. D"
Hummingbirds will be with us few weeks
longer.
This one species is all of its tribe we receive,
and bird lovers are mighty glad for it, because
it brings something we otherwise would lack
Called the Jewel Of the air" the hummer
seems to deserve the title, although he Is not
so much smaller than the wren, at that.
II is his combination of color with the way
he stands still in the air that earns MIN the
title.
Even his food is popularly supposed to be
"nectar," as if this jewel OF creature coulo
not possibly subsist on Grass insects.
AS matter of fact. he is bird as much as
any, and feeds his babies on insects as all
birds do
when YOU see him poking that long bill down
the throat of a bell-shaped flower, it Is not
honey dew or nectar he is after, although ne
may get bit of sweet stun
He is probing for the tiny insects themselves
feeding on the sweet
When he is caught perching, as he does now
and then. he is seen to be very much OF bird,
not fairy creature at all, except IN way OF
speaking-and good way, at that
Fairy stories of childhood gave certain
favor to a life that was to develop certain
crudities, at it's low the use of airplanes for
PURPOSES of destruction, combined with the
atomic bomb used as yet for no other purpose
The fairy stories, at least gave imaglnatlon
a lift. They did not depress the human spirit
but helped it over the rough places.
X
The hummingbird may be a fairy creature,
in comparison with other larger species, espe-
cially when from so to 100 of his kind are
feeding up and down mimosa tree.
In the city he usually contents himself with
petunias in porch boxes, gadloluses IN the back
ward and sometimes trumpet vines in trees.
Wherever he flies he Is graceful and pretty
in all ways.
His nest is not much larger than large
walnut and the eggs are about the size OF the
end of ones little finger.
Usually there are two of them In the nest,
which is placed in crotch of two branches. SO
cleverly that it is mostly unseen.
The baby birds are SO small that any one
might be forgiven for not seeing them at all,
even If he were looking directly at them. He
might think them insects-or something
Hummingbirds usually nest in trees. but
sometimes will build in very exposed places,
such as over an electric bulb on busy street
corner.
Traffic noises bright lights these in no way
worry the parent birds. They go right ahead
nesting, Matching, bringing up their young
Giving the lie to the old belief that birds resent
confusion.
Our one species of hummingbird flies to
Mexico and points adjacent for the winter.
Its fight, for such mere bits of featheIeo
nothing, is among the true marveis OF the
world.
Evening hawk moths and sphinx moths
resemble hummingbirds and are even more
fearless. They should never be mistaken 1or
the real thing.