Show Out of Doors in the West Sketches of Natural History in the Rocky Mountain Plateau Edited by J. H. of Nature Study In the University of Utah I. More about the Humming Birds Ways of the Black We were speaking last week of the Western Humming The Black-chinned and the Broad-tailed are the species most common with Prof Goodwin says the black-chinned is less emotional than other it is abundant in the the Broad-tailed is to be found in the lower foothills and down in the Its flight is often accompanied by a metallic rattle unlike the notes of any other bird of the family Costa is restricted to the southern part of the and appears to be more of a desert-loving species than the The is more common during though no doubt it breeds The Calliope is a tiny and prefers the greater altitudes especially during the breeding The The Costa is the rallied because of a long ruff on each side of the The head and ruff are covered with metallic red and a burnished amethyst changing to blue and re- Rufous Humming Bird of upper parts green or bronze under parts This is the most beautiful of our It mostly a Mexican but is the common humming bird of the Humming Bird They are fearless and aggressive in the tiniest bird is the bravest of Frequently they will stand in the air not far from your head and will make a Close inspection of your A rufous did this and I have seen other birds give way rather an risk the of that fine needle Even the sParrow-hawk retreats before and they are not a raid to hover about the heads of people who come ear their Wherever the bee-plant was grow ing in Southern I found in August and September great numbers of the broad-tailed hummer hovering above its These birds were and flew off when Though they alight frequently to I have never seen one do so in order to get its They alight on the end or top branches of where they dress their ready for another They are full of ac- Black Chinned Humming Bird the most intensely iving of any known Life seems short and time precious to They live and stop for only a moment with any one They like heat and sunshine and are easily overcome by They avoid the shade and in where their plumage gleams with a brilliancy resembling that of burnished and displaying all tints of the They are as bold and impertinent as they are They attack the great sphinx their flower-visiting companions which they strongly and destroy them on slight A spider web incenses they end it apart and devour its They dislike hawks and other freely attacking and driving them They aim at the and eo-operate against their This boldness enables the collector to take them with The smaller ones of the tropics are taken in insect and are often mistaken for The bill of the humming-bird is and either straight or sometimes as long as the often much With this fine instrument it probes the flowers for upon which it It is not only but and insects that the humming-bird is seeking as it goes from flower to By means of their wondrous wing motion they stand still in the poising above a flower and searching out its insects and before dashing away in their lightning-like come like a flash of assume a vertical position without any throw their tail expanding it like a vibrating their wings with such rapidity that they become absolutely plunging at the same time their thread-like tongues to the bottom of some long and then they have they gone as suddenly as In feeding the what appears to be a dangerous operation is performed by the old for the long needle pointed bill of the parent is repeatedly 4 jabbed into the open bill of the and rammed To the observer it seems that home again and death must result from such heroic treatment lor the tiny bit of But nothing of the sort happens and the youngster thoroughly enjoys receiving its in this The resistance of the air to the wing motion varies during high as the cube of the it is therefore plain that enormous expenditure ofen-ergy takes place to maintain this The birds fly with a speed so great that the eye by a peculiar can rarely follow or wing and body or they remain motionless m the sustained by the rapid whirr of the while they rifle the When they do the tail is thrust forward under the body and acts like a |