3-28 HUMMINGBIRDS. 



vaguely heard or only read of ; thus digging, as 

 it were, from Nature's exhaustless mine, fresh 

 wonders of Divine handiwork on which eye had 

 not before gazed. 



Hummingbirds. Hummingbirds, and the 

 wild tangled loveliness of tropical vegetation, 

 appear to be so closely linked together, that we 

 are apt to think the one essential to the existence 

 of the other. 



We naturally (at least I did in my earlier 

 days) associate these tiniest gems of the feathered 

 creation with glowing sunshine, gorgeous flowers, 

 grotesque orchids palms, plaintains, bananas, and 

 blacks. This is all true enough, and if we take 

 that large slice of the American continent betwixt 

 the Amazon, the Rio Grande, and the Gila (em- 

 bracing Guiana, New Granada, Central America, 

 Mexico, and the West Indian islands), as the home 

 of hummingbirds, we shall pretty truthfully de- 

 fine, what is usually assumed to be, the geogra- 

 phical range of this group a group entirely con- 

 fined to America. Within the above limits, the 

 great variety of species, the most singular in form 

 and brilliant in plumage, are met with. 



Gazing on these gems of the air, one would 

 suppose that Nature had exhausted all her skill 

 in lavishly distributing the richest profusion of 



