FLOWER SHOW TODAY
The August 1970 Highlands
Cashiers Garden Club Flower
Show, ^Inspirations from the
Garden” is being staged at
THE Cashiers Gommunity Building
TODAY FROH 2:00 TO 9:00 PJf,
Admission is free* There are
49 ENTRIES IN THE ARTISTIC
Arrangements Division, and over
100 IN THE Horticultural Secti
Section. COME TO THE FLOWER
SHOW TODAY I
ROTARY ANNS TO MEET FRIDAY
The August meeting of the Highlands
Rotary Ann Club will be at noon Friday
(tomorrow) at the Fhelps House. Sue
Hall has arranged a special program whih
will be of great interest to all members
and guests. Wives of visiting Rotarians
are cordially invited to attend the
meeting.
RUBY-THROATED HUMlOTGBIRD
By - Elizabeth Roe Tyson
Of all the birds which come to us
for the summer, the Ruby-throated Hum
mingbirds seem to create the greatest
pleasure. This understandable, because
there are so many surprising things to
be learned about them and they can so
easily be attracted near our homes
where we can watch their fascir^ting
ways.
Hummingbirds are our smallest
feathered creatures. Of the five hundred
to six hundred species, all in the
Americas and novjhere else in the world,
the Ruby-throated is the only one which
comes to Eastern United States, He is
neither the smallest nor the largest,
but from the tip of his bill to the tip
of his tail he measures about three and
one half inches and he weighs hardly
as much as a penny. -
Our little Ruby-throated is irrides-
cent green above, white below, the male
with glovjing red throat which, with a
HUItCEIIGBIRD ( Cont»d)
turn of the head he can change to jet
black. Ihe female’s throat is white
and she has white dots on the tip of the
tail. The needle-like bill is longer
than the head and the slender tongue can
extend way beyond the tip of the bill
into the deepest throated flowers or
into your feeders for honey water;
Their wing beats are so fast, from
^0 to 1$ times per second, that you can
see nothing but a blur. They are the
only birds which can move forward, back
ward, up or down with equal ease* One
is tempted to thirik that they never rest,
but they usually do, usually perched on
a wire or a bare branch. Perhaps it is
because they are so tiny that we fail to
see them as we see other birds at rest.
During the courting season when the
male is trying to attract the lady of his
choice he may fly before her in a perfect
arc, back and forth as if he were on the
end af a string, his throat glowing
ruby-red. This "pendulum dance*' is
one of the most beautiful courting dis
plays ever seen.
T''Jhen nesting time comes the female
takes all the responsibility. She builds
the tiny nest with the soft wood from
fern stalks fastened with the silk from
spider webs. She saddles the nest on a
horizontal branch of a tree, usually not
more than ten or twenty feet from the
ground, although sometimes the nests are
found higher. There she shingles it wife
lichen so that it looks like a knot or
a bump on the branch of the tree. IrJhen
completed the little nest is about as
big around as a silver dollar.
Ti70 tiny white eggs are laid
several days apart, and about twelve to
fifteen dajrs later the pink skinned
babies come from the egg shells. They are
so small that six of them could cuddle
very comfortably in the bowl of a tea
spoon. The babies usually stay in the
nest about three weeks, the time de
pending much on the weather. A rainy
period retards their growth. During
all this time she feeds them on tender
(COMTBTJED ON PAGE 8a)
20%
OFF
50%
OFF
20%
OFF
I 50%
OFF
REEVES FURNITURE & GIFTS
Gifts^ Accessories, Pictures, d Lamps
on Baskets
All Dining Room Furniture, Occasional Tables
and Upholstered Pieces
Lawn Furniture
30 6 40% OFF
Odd Chairs, Tables d Discontinued Groups
as marked.
Highlands Clayton
iuGa 24 ^ Sept^ 5 Sales Final Aug^ 20 Aug
51
THE GAIAX MS
August 20, 1970
PAGE 7A