Evening star., 1948-09-11
This and That
By Charles E. Truce1oeH
BETHESDA, MD.

BETHESDA, MD.
Dear Sir:
Last evening I saw hummingbird that
was completely foreign to me.
He was smaller than the ruby-throated or
his mate, and had a longer bill. His back
was striped jailbird fashion In orange and
black alternately.
''Ihe peculiar thing about him was that al
though my husband and I stood close to him
for several minutes watching him fly around
the nicotiana we could not hear sound from
his wings
Have you any idea what our friendly neigh
bor's name Is?
Sincerely yours, j. H. B."
That nam, was no hummingbird.
1t was MOTH
1t was probably an evening hawk moth, al
though there are several other species of
moths that fool people.
When we lived in Georgetown we had
plenty of hummingbirds, and several forms
of moths. One was dark green, so mucn
resembling the female ruby-throated hum
mingbird that most observers had no doubt
Of It's identification as such.
No hummer however, will permit a watcher
to stand directly over it, or even cup it with
a hand.
This odd creature did.
It visited the phlox plants at about dusk
1t came to them every day, and so we called it
The bill Of the moth is longer even than a
h,lmmer,s BILL
No respectable hummingbird would permit
human hallo 10 close over it.
1t the action were possible, the bird would
probably stab its powerful bill directly into
ones hand, as it sometimes does into the body
Of a foe.
Hummingbirds are brave little creatures
They often give their lives for the sake Of
their nests.
B They may even be said to be ferocious, within
their limits.
The moths, on the other wing are as in
sensitive 10 human presence as most insects
Yet the resemblance between them and the
little birds Is striking.
We were standing in the garden the other
late afternoon, watching the bees at some blue
flowers
There we've hundreds of flowers and hun
dreds Of bees.
A constant movement over the flower faces
was kept up, as bees moved from one to an
other, their golden bodies, with black rear
shining in the sun.
Each bee glistened with a real patina.
Not bee paid the slightest attention to the
watchers
All at once a huge black bumblebee few in
In comparison with the dainty bees, he was
almost bull in a china shop.
Inc peeS mace way LOT nlIl, Out no more
They did not seem afraid. Among the insects
everybody minds his own business. in the
main Perhaps If mankind could emulate that
trait. and forget about their form of COM
munism, our human world would be better of.
Net all hummingbirds hum.
And there is only one that comes here, the
ruby throat
If you see something that you think is
bird, so small that you think 1t must be
hummer, put it down as a moth, an evening
hawk moth, possibly a sphinx moth.
In going from flower to flower, humming
birds perform the same Office in the economy
of nature as bees butterflies and moths by
transferring pollen from one bloom to another
Hummingnirds seldom If ever walk on the
ground but perch readily enough on branches.
clothes lines and telephone wires.
Inhabitants exclusively Of America" says
one expert, 1.-The hummingbirds constitute not
only the most charming element in the won-
derfully varied bird life of the Western Heni-
sphere. but also without doubt the most re-
marxahle group Of birds in the entire world"
Rivoli's hummer. sometimes called the reful
gent hummingbird, q native of the Southwest,
Il said to have no wing hum.