;->
as l>i_^ as ;i boned ham, and at every turn he is met
with the friendly smile. !!<• finds this town a place
of kind hearts and sunny corners. He was just say;
ing how lie was sorry he want stayin' here long
enough to get Utn-r acquainted with more of us
when he's struck with a sudden spasm of memory
WHY great snakes!" says he, swattin' his knee
•■ II- •■ I've plumb forgot
about lookin' up old Hoc Keezar.
Don't happen to know anybody
of that name, do you, Henry M.
Keezar? "
"No," says I. "\Vhal kind of
a doctor is he, — pill, !<.-.;h, ..r
horse?*-'
Mr. Hooper explains that his
friend want a rcg'lar doctor <>f
any brand: but got his tag <>n
account of havin' been a professor
in some college] Bug had met him
out West, where the !><><■ had gone
for his health. They'd ;^ot some
chummy <>n a couple of prqspectin'
trips, located some claims, and in
the cm! Keezar got so interested
in mmm' that he went to work
and invented a self dumping ore
car.
"It was a mighty slick thing,
all ri^ht," says Hooper; "but it
wasn't worth wasting so much
time over. Why, just as I*« 1 figured
out a scheme to develop our pro
j»ertv, he takes it into his head lie's
gottocomeon East anil sell that
patent "f his Was willing to cash
in all his holdings, t<>o, for enough
money to take him to New Yorl
Wclh I scraped it up and let lii'ri
have it; but'of course I wouldn't
take such an advantage of a friend.
I never had the share transfers
made. That's nearly two years
ago, without his writing a single
line He'll !•<• some surprised when
he hears what his share is worth
today. Guess he must have made
good on here, though; for they're
making those rars of hi l>\ the
thousand. Say some of 'em only
yesterday."
The more h< tall aboul Doc
LIFE AND DOOM OF THE HUMMINGBIRD
A BILL recently before the British House of Com
which had ill 1 the Lords, pro
hibit; the importation ■>! the skin ol hummingbird
•hi objeel of the measure being to preveni the ex
termination oi those exquisite leathered creatures
Hummingbirds, of course, are i xeeedingly numer
o tropical America; but, when it is considered
thai no fewer than ;ix thousand millions of their
skins have been .sent to market up to date, it will be
realized that they are in serious danger ol being wiped
off the face of the earth. Afi inner Governor of Trini
dad ti tified before a committee of the Lords that
tort-. ■ v ;agoal It i t eighteen I humming
bird were common on that island, whereas at the
ne only five were Ift The redthroat used
to fly constantly into the rooms of dwellings, and its
were frequently found in the bushes; but
was a thing of the past.
Order v 'd frequently to reach Trinidad from New
York for t • • n thous md or fifteen thousand humming
bird skins; and. to (ill these dera inds, whole spe< ies
were destroyed Nowadays exportation of the skins
from the island is prohibited, and the little birds are
increasing in numbers; but supplies are easily ob
tained from elsewhere, especially from Colombia, Bo
livia, Peru, and Ecuador. They are most abundant
m Ecuador Some species are restricted to single
mountain peaks or valleys, while others, known as
" In nr.it -. are found in the darkest and least known
! thi forests of Brazil.
Cati.ht by Indians
r T"M [E skins of hummingbirds are exported by millions
■*■ from Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, and Bogotd
Many dealers at those ports are engaged exclusively
iti the bm mess of buying and shipping them, the de
mand for them, chiefly for millinery purposes, being
always equal to tin- available supply. Many are
killed with guns ami very small shot; considerable
numbers are captured in nets; but the method com
monly employed by tin' native Indians, who furnish
most of the skins, is to shoot them with the blowpipe,
.i weapon they know how to use with astonishing
accuracy.
This instrument is a hollow reed, and the projec
tile, which is discharged by a sudden puff of the
breath, is a small pellet of clay This suffices to
kno k down the little bird, and does no harm to the
plumag" The expense for ammunition, of course, is
ml. To remove and preserve the dainty skins prop
erty is a delicate job, requiring no little skill; but the
Indians learned the art long ago from the whites, and
are able to practise it with great expertness.
One reason why hummingbirds are so inter
is that they an i \< lusively American, being unknown
in the 'M i World No white man ever s.iw .neup to
SUNDAY MAGAZINE FOR APRII 4 1909
.
•■ \\ liv. maj be he's livii
iilong here," says he, ' < r
Oh, Do ' r when he has the cash! Lei
lub he told ■ to? Had
something to do with colk .
Yon don't mean the Ui -I
Here's Some of Youi Property Yo« Can Keep!" Explodci Hooper.
By Rene Bache
the date of the landing of Columbus About
dred species are known, the smallest being Pr
Helena's hummingbird, native to Cuba; while the
• is tin- giant hummingbird of the Ande
inches in length, which, as it hovers over a Bower,
flaps its wings with ;i slow and powerful naovi
This is a striking characteristic, inasmuch as other
hummingbirds arc remarkable t'«»r the rapidit) with
which t heir wings vibrat ■
As most people have had o tportunities to notie<
the wings <>(' a hummingbird Hap with such rapidity
as to present a mere Slur to the eye. It is probable
thai the vibrations are not fewer than five hundred
to the minute Though so tiny, the dainty feathered
creatures have very powerful wing muscles; and it
is w..rth remarking that they fly rather like fa
than like birds Their proper home is the air
they cannot without the help of their wings, though
they perch, -and some species make annual migra
tions oj nearly two thousand miles.
It used to be supposed that, hummingbirds could
not be kepi alive in captivity for any length of time,
though they are easily tamed. This notion. h< >wever,
has been disproved by a naturalist. Captain Albert
lam. who several years ago managed to carry a
number of living hummingbirds from Venezuela to
London, where they were placed in the Zoological
Gardens Being kepi there in a warm boose, they
ha\<- thriven nicely.
They Live on Insects
TT is not true, as commonly supposed, that hum
■*■ mingbirds feed exclusively <>n the nectar >>i
Sowers. They <Io clrmk the nect tr; but t seems
probable that their provender consists chiefly <.f
small insects, which they find <>n the blossoms of
plants Often they are seen to rob spiders' webs
of the llies they contain, not hesitating to run some
risk of being caught themselves; for many a snare
woven by the industrious arachnid is strong
enough to hold one of these little birds, om c tangled
m it
It is only the male hummingbird, as a rule, thai is
arrayed in gorgeous colors Sometimes it is the
thro it that is luminous in other species there is a
h do of radiance on the crown, while m yet others the
tails are brilliant. The Vomets" have forked ta;ls
of glowing red One kind of hummingbird changes
its throat mstant h from vivid fire color to light green :
another from bright crimson to brae,— an alteration
made possible by the fact that the hues of these
"feathered jewels" are attributable not to pigments,
Chat's it!" says Bug, and .... more
we're bein' rolled up .... of the stone *<■;.!■- and
the Latin remarks.
"Well, now! Swell outl eh'" says Bui;, takin*
a }K>ep at the entrance. " But if Doc's struck it as
rich as 1 susi>ect. this would just suit him. And if
he ain't here, I reckon they ran put us or. hi- trail.
I'll run in and see ."
He lidn't stay lon^. All he found oat was that
Professor Keezar's name hadn't been on the list for
ten years ick
"-You might try the telephone book," says I
Hooj-er did; but there want a Keezar of any
description in it. Then we strikes a dru£ store and
paws through the X's in a city directory. Nothing
doing there, either.
"Huh!" growls Mr. Hooper. "That's -peer.
Mean to tell me a man like Henry M. Keezar. .1 pro
fessor and a rich inventor, can't be found anywhere
in this town?"
" ll : I
■
he's
■
. IUT I
He can't get the D«x: out of his mind, though.
He goes or. tellin' me what a tir.e old ch.ir* he
was, and all about his gentle ways, ..: ' how
hor.est am! white he was clear thn •:-!:
■"Ami to think." says Hooper, "that
probably he's right in this city, maybe nding
around just like we are; ant! I can't so
much as — "
Sj\l< HOOPER'S flow of vain regrel
■ stops as sadden as if he'd swallowed
i «/ork. i I<x>ks around to see what's
ha {.'{filed, and finds him star::.', with
his eyes set and his month open, at
the people on the sidewalk. • i- t car
has been held up by a line < f cross
tov. •. traffic, and as we art- next t»
the curb he .cets a t;ood view.
As near as I cai make out,
though, what he's lookus' it hard
est is only one of tries* waßrin'
handbills. — a seedy, wa^erv eyed
olil pan with mangy whiskers,
whose costume is mostly . cvered
Ccntnu?3 on p.:ge 2~
1
so disposed . - c
light . whence the peculiar
The chid enemj
OtheT birds, even hawks
Swift and incredibi;
ingly at a pursuer's i
reach a fraction ol
steal the eggs of hummingbirds
firi >r the sake of safi
the eud.s of long
< Hhers, jUSt below the SI •
from tendril-, and whei
than the other pal a |
Yet others use spiders' w<
hki : my hammock
Fairies in Feathers
THESE are in truth the fain
world Their nests, which a
imitate tree km
ceahnent, are built of plant downchieti .
and held together with spiders' webs;
ill!,' likewise made to Serve I
twigs Usually they are cup shaped or t n
But always they are of exquisite constra
number of eggs laid, of immaculate
variably two.
One might, indeed, onagine that these ri *j
were related to the BoweiS Set oiih ■! ilwrf
among them, and feed upon their nect th *^
very structure exhibits, as one might sa)
viotts and even conspicuous Horalada]
fof example, the sitklebill is provided «
like beak to fit the curved thro
while t!u- sword bearer, to reach the ho! •
long, trumjH't shaped blossoms conn
it inhabits, has a bill five inches in v ' th -i
tongue thai can be protruded far beyond.
The ruby and topaz hummingbird b thi
mostly exported from tropical Amer* a fo* the '-r- m
ming of hats and bonnets Alreatl >win |
signs of serious diminution I
plenty more, of other kinds, to supph
For instance, down in Texas the other a.
dred hummingbirds were ordered for
The demand will continue, doubtless. and will '
in years U< come by the destruction of .nil
millions, and in the long run billion-, of the dainty
and beautiful creatures Eventually, however, 't
will be with them as with the buffalo, and. ac<
or two from now. when they have be-jun to be
the skin hunters, spurred ■
pnees, will be pursuing the few survin I
extinction in the more remote and I
gions of tropical America