Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/212

ming-bird has been known to attach its nest to a straw-rope hanging in a shed; their eggs are white, and they never lay more than one or two. Once, when on the Amazon, Mr. Wallace had a nest of young humming-birds brought to him, which he tried to feed on syrup, supposing that they would be fed on honey by their parents. To his surprise, however, they not only would not swallow the liquid, but nearly choked themselves in their efforts to eject it. He then caught some very small flies, and dropped one into the wide-open mouth of the poor little orphan humming-bird; it closed instantly with a satisfied gulp, and opened again for more. The little creatures, he found, demanded fifteen or twenty flies each in succession before they were satisfied; and the process of feeding and flycatching together required so much time that he was reluctantly compelled to abandon them to their fate."

The Illustration has been drawn by the writer from a compound yellowbird's nest. The upper story or nest is partly lifted so as to show the cow blackbird's eggs in the nest below.