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Odd Gyrations of Hummingbirds

Authors
Anna Head
Journal
Condor
Volume
4
Issue
4 (July-August)
Year
1902
Pages
94
Section
From Field and Study
Online Text

Odd Gyrations of Hummingbirds.

I would like to ask if anyone has observed a sort of dance or gymnastic exercise of the hummingbird similar to that which I once witnessed? It was just after sunset of a clear, bright day in San Mateo, Cal., when I noticed a male Anna hummingbird making great circles in the air at a very rapid rate. The plane of the circle was perpendicular and I should judge it was fifteen feet in diameter. He rose somewhat more slowly than he swung down again, hut the whole movement reminded me of a stone whirled at the end of a very long string. Was this to impress the female or merely for the joy of motion?

ANNA HEAD

Berkeley, Cal.

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