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60 THE CONDOR I VOL. VII ity built so they were entirely under shelter. Three were in vines directly under bridges, two in Virginia creepers under porches, another in a blackberry bush under a log and so on, where any amount of rain could not bother them. When the day was warm the mother did not brood long at a time; five min- utes was quite a long spell. It often seemed to me the tiny eggs would chill through before she returned, but after a few days they began to lose the flesh tint of pink and changed to a dull lead color. In just twelve days the pink capsules had developed into creatures that looked exactly like two tiny black bugs, with a slight streak of brown extending down the middle of their backs. In a few days more the little brats began to fork out all over with tiny black horns and then from the end of each horn grew the downy plumes of brown. One day I crawled in close behind the bushes at the side o[ the nest and hid myself carefully. The mother darted at me and poised a foot from my nose, as if RUFOUS HUMMERS FULLY FLEDGED to stare me out of conntenance. She looked me over from head to foot twice be- fore she seented satisfied I was harmless. Then she whirled and sat on the nest edge. After she had spread her tail like a flicker to brace herself, she craned her neck and drew her dagger-like bill straight up above the nest. She plunged it down the youngster's throat to the hilt and started a series of gestures that seemed to puncture him to the toes. Then she stabbed the other twin till it made me shudder. She was only giving them a dinner after the usual hummingbird method of regurgitation but it looked to me like the murder of the infants. I have never seen a hummingbird fledgling fall from the nest in advance of his strength as a robin often does. When the time comes, he seems to spring into the air full grown, clad in glittering armor, as Minerva sprung from the head of Jove. While I lay quiet in the bushes I learned the reason. One youngster sat on the nest edge, stretched his wings, combed out his tail, lengthened his neck and