160 INSESSORES. 



burnished gold, and tinging them with the ever- 

 changing hues of the most glittering gems, upon 

 others, arrayed in a plainer dress, she has bestowed 

 that peculiarly fascinating and delightful charm, a 

 voice that rings through the woodlands like a heaven- 

 born melody. 



It has been observed that the Humming Birds 

 seldom live long in confinement; and although they 

 have been kept during a period of several weeks, jet 

 they generally languish and die in a much shorter 

 space of time. A creature so evidently formed for 

 continued activity, whose very food is taken upon 

 the wing, would naturally prove difficult to domesti- 

 cate ; and the impossibility of supplying it with its 

 natural food, would at once suggest the uncertainty 

 of success. The Polytmus has been known in sev- 

 eral instances to live in an apartment sufficiently large 

 to allow of free exercise; and by being constantly 

 supplied with fresh flowers and a syrup prepared for 

 the purpose, has been kept alive for a few weeks ; but 

 the almost entire absence of the minute insects which 

 constitute the principal part of their food, rendered 

 them so feeble and emaciated as soon to cause their 

 death from actual starvation. When first caught and 

 placed in confinement, they mostly pine away, and 

 die in a few days of fright or grief. Sometimes, in 

 fits of desperation, they beat themselves about and 

 butt their little heads against the sides of the cage, 

 and soon fall down exhausted and die. 



In the manner of constructing their nests, the 

 Humming Birds differ almost as widely as in their 



