ncy be habitual with the male ruby-throat? I had
never supposed that any of our land birds were given to behaving in this
ill-mannered, unnatural way, and the matter seemed to call for
investigation.

My first resort was, of course, to books. The language of Wilson and
Audubon is somewhat ambiguous, but may fairly be taken as implying the
male bird's presence throughout the period of nidification. Nuttall
speaks explicitly to the same effect, though with no specification of
the grounds on which his statement is based. The later systematic
biographers--Brewer, Samuels, Minot, and the authors of New England Bird
Life--are silent in respect to the point. Mr. Burroughs, in Wake-Robin,
mentions having found two nests, and gives us to understand that he saw
only the female birds. Mrs. Treat, on the other hand, makes the father a
conspicuous figure about the single nest concerning which she reports.
Mr. James Russell Lowell, too, speaks of watching both parents as they
fed the young ones: "The mother always alighted, while the father as
uniformly remained upon the wing."

So far, then, the evidence was decidedly, not to say decisively, in the
masculine ruby-throat's favor. But while I had no desire to make out a
case against him, and in fact was beginning to feel half ashamed of my
uncomplimentary surmises, I was still greatly impressed with what my own
eyes had seen, or rather had not seen, and thought it worth while to
push the inquiry a little further.

I wrote first to Mr. E. S. Hoar, in whose garden Mr. Brewster had made
the observations cited in my previous article. He replied with great
kindness, and upon the point in question said: "I watched the nest two
or three times a day, from a time before the young were hatched till
they departed; and _now you mention it_, it occurs to me that I never
did see the male, but only the white-breasted female."

Next I sought the testimony of professional ornithologists; and here my
worst suspicions seemed in a fair way to be confirmed, although the
greater number of my correspondents were unhappily compelled to plead a
want of knowledge. Dr. A. K. Fisher had found, as he believed, not less
than twenty-five nests, and to the best of his recollection had never
seen a male bird near one of them after it was completed. He had watched
the female feeding her young, and, when the nests contained eggs, had
waited for hours on purpose to secure the male, but always without
result.

Mr.