Page:Nesting of the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird--Trochilus Colubris.djvu/1

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The little Ruby-throat is found, during the warm summer months, throughout Eastern United States and some parts of Canada. In south-western Pennsylvania they arrive about the first of May, and before the close of the month nest-building begins.

Many times have I wandered through wood and grove in quest of the downy, little nest, containing the two tiny white treasures. My first successful search was on the 29th of May, 1887. It was Sunday—everything was still—and the heat of the morning sun had not yet sipped up the large drops of dew, which would occasionally drop from the tree-tops and spatter on our hands or shoulders. As we sauntered along, a Woodpecker started from his home in a "stub" and galloped away through the thicket; a frightened ground squirrel sought concealment behind a rock; a Red-tail slowly winged his way over the woods, and a rabbit bounded away through the weeds and disappeared over a little knoll.