The Rufous Hummer is one of the earliest of the migratory birds to leave its winter home, and arrives within the borders of the United States early in March and is known to begin housekeeping as far North as the State of Oregon early in April.
Now, if there is anything which a hummer fairly dotes on it is pinks.
When compared with other species of the family this species is quite noisy, especially when it sees a broad-tailed hummer in the neighborhood.
It was a surprise when one of them turned to the other and fed it--the mother hummer was small enough to be taken for a nestling!
Though this little hummer that I was watching let me come within a few feet of her, when a lizard ran under her bush she craned her neck and looked over her shoulder at him with surprising interest.
Before the old hummer flew off, she picked up a tiny white feather that she found in the nest, and wound it around a twig.
Illustration: The Little Hummer on her Bow-Knot Nest.
The hummer flew by to her nest, goldfinches called from the ledge.
Atom though the hummer was, hardly more than a pinch of feathers, she was a decided character, with notions and ways of her own.
She said that Hummer the Hummingbird is a sort of second cousin to Sooty the Chimney Swift," replied Johnny Chuck.
A moment later Peter heard a humming noise just over his head and looked up to see Hummer himself alight on a twig, where he squeaked excitedly for a few minutes, for his voice is nothing but a little squeak.
Mrs. Hummersticks her bill right down their throats and then pumps up the food she has already swallowed.
With a jerk of her tail off flew Jenny Wren, and Peter hurried back to tell Johnny Chuck all he had found out about Hummer the Hummingbird.
Why, there isn't a single member of the Hawk family that Hummer won't attack.
Hummer may be a tiny fellow but he isn't afraid of anybody under the sun.
She was dressed very much like Hummerbut did not have the beautiful ruby throat.
He hasn't any one nearer than some sort of second cousins, Boomer the Nighthawk, Whippoorwill, and Hummer the Hummingbird.
Often Peter had seen Hummer darting about from flower to flower and holding himself still in mid-air in front of each as he thrust his long bill into the heart of the blossom to get the tiny insects there and the sweet juices he is so fond of.
Hummer lifted one wing and with his long needle-like bill smoothed the feathers under it.
The hummer makes short work of everything: with a flash and a hum it is gone.
I have seen other birds bathe in the dew or raindrops on tree foliage, but did not before know that the hummer bathed at all.
What appears to be the only other vocal accomplishment of this hummer is a somewhat long-drawn, rasping note, very loud and harsh for so small a bird.
At each appearance we pause to assure ourselves that we really did see a Hummer with a green back and a red gorget, for otherwise, we have been duped again by one of those tiresome female Rufouses.
Allen's Hummer is the daintier, as he is the rarer, of the summer Selasphori but we know him thus far only as a momentary vision.
The tower and dive of the Calliope Hummer produces at its climax a squeak of the tiniest and shrillest quality.
It was just a way of speaking to show how quicklyHummer disappears.
One night passed safely enough, but the second was a hummerfrom the word go.
You're certainly a hummer from the word go, and I reckon we'd better go home.
Susan Hummerwas a granddaughter of Anna Maria Spangler-Stauffer.
Wide is his mouth, and spreading his toes; Very elastic and shiny his clothes; Though lofty his jumpings and brazen his stare, He sees not the Hummer that flits in the air.
I used to be married to a Indian woman up on the Big Wind that was some hummer trainin' sheep-dogs.
Little Mr. Hummer turned and flew as he never had flown before.
He thanked Hummer and told him that his heart was as big as his body was small, but that he would not send him out into the Great World, for he would go himself.
Then Old Mother Nature turned to tiny Mr. Hummer and touched his throat, and behold a shining ruby was there, the reward of loyalty, faith, and bravery.
Only little Mr. Hummer kept his faith and day after day flew away in the direction old King Eagle had gone, hoping to meet him coming back.
That morning, as soon as it was light enough to see, little Mr. Hummer darted away, and his heart was heavy.
And with a light laugh Hummer went "in front" by the passage leading behind the boxes.
In clear defiance of the printed rules of the Fire Department young Mr. Hummer carefully lighted a cigarette and observed carelessly: "Can't see how any one loses unless it's Miss Farnum.
Hummer stepped closer a bit, puffed at his cigarette, and motioned toward the dressing-room.
For the three quarters of an hour that I remained, the hummerwas not once out of the ash-tree for five minutes.
As I entered the clearing, the hummer was seen at his post, and my suspicions fastened upon a small wild apple-tree, perhaps twenty rods distant.
Whether brooding or feeding, it must be said that the hummer treated her tiny charges with no particular carefulness, so far as an outsider could judge.
The day before, a warbler had sat on the same branch which the yellow-throat now invaded, and the hummer not only did not offer to molest him, but flew away himself.
A warbler entered the tree, and after a while ventured upon the branch where the hummer was sitting.
But my fellow-observer kept up his visits, as I have said, and the hummer remained faithful to his task as late as July 15th, at least.
Now the quail sings again, this time in two notes, and now the hummer is again in the orange-tree.
I saw his flaming throat, and the next instant he was gone, like a flash of light,--the first hummer of the year.
Going around by the valley of Seven Lakes, I had walked down from the summit, but nowhere had I seen the tiny hummer until I reached the green nook just described.
It was here I saw the only female broad-tailed hummer that was met with in my rambles in the Rockies.
My attention was first directed to the broad-tailed hummer by seeing him darting about in the air with the swiftness of an arrow, sipping honey from the flower cups, and then flying to the twigs of a dead tree that stood in the marsh.
But the oddest prank which this hummer performs is to dart up in the air, and then down, almost striking a bush or a clump of grass at each descent, repeating this feat a number of times with a swiftness that the eye can scarcely follow.
As has already been said, there is not always unruffled peace in the hummer family.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "hummer" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word. Other words: flier; flyer; goer; hustler; jockey; racer; runner; scorcher; speeder; stepper
