Page:Bird-lore Vol 01.djvu/170

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156 Bird -Lore turtiuni into which a drop of honey had been placed, and nearly the whole time the little bird was flying from one to the other, perching on fingers or sipping from the flowers held in the hand or button- hole, to the delight of everybody, none of the company having" ever seen a live Hummingbird so close by. In the evening he went to roost high up on a chandelier, and in trying to catch him with the net to put him in a safe cage for the night, he fell like a dead bird to the carpet. I held him warm in my hand, thinking that he was about to breathe his last, but anxious to save the precious little life if possible, I very gently opened the bill and inserted a pellet of crushed spiders' eggs as large as a good-sized sweet pea, following it with a drop of water. He had been feigning, probably, as they are known to do ; at any rate, in a minute he was as bright and lively as ever. His room for the NEST AND EGGS OF HUMMINGBIRD SEEN FROM ABOVE Situated in an apple tree 8 feet from the ground Photographed from nature by E. G. Tabor, Meridian, N. Y., June 16. 1857 night was a large insect cage of wire screen filled with convenient twigs and a large bowl of flowers. At five in the morning I fed him honey and young spiders, and again at six. At eight I had a lecture, the subject of which happened to be the taming of wild birds and attracting them about our homes. Removing all flowers from his cage to let his appetite sharpen for the two intervening hours, I set the cage on a table by my side on the lecture platform. I had taken pains to have two fresh nasturtiums in my buttonhole, one well loaded with honey, the other filled with the juices of crushed spiders and spiders' eggs. On reaching the topic of approaching birds in the right way, appealing to them along the lines of their tastes and appetites, appealing to the "right end" of a bird, I had only to open the door, give the familiar chirp, and the little charmer was probing the flowers. Then, as if anxious to show off, he again