HUMMINGBIRDS 



crime-ridden parent can stand her awful offspring 

 no longer, and with a single, skillful sweep, she 

 inverts the needle-beak and stabs the ebon creature 

 through and through. Down and down go her 

 mandibles, into the very heart, if indeed it have 

 a heart, and, — behold, we have seen a loving 

 mother hummingbird give her nestling a full meal 

 of predigested spiders! The second is fed, the 

 sabre withdrawn and wiped clean, and three tiny 

 birds are happy — two from the bliss of material 

 satiety, the third from the sense of duty perfectly 

 performed. 



After a few days the leaden skin cracks open, 

 and we catch a glint of light upon a new-born eye; 

 a hedge of stiff thorns blossoms into sprays of 

 downy feathers, a bulge becomes a beak, and the 

 nest grows far too small to hold the spider- 

 nourished twins. The feathers of the wing and 

 tail appear, even a glint of shining green, and now 

 one climbs upon the sunken rim and tries his 

 wings. They work so well he has to cling right 

 tightly to the cobwebbed down to keep himself 

 from being carried off. Next day, when instinct 

 bids him go, he lifts and hovers, flies upward to 

 a twig, looks about, and calls the world his own. 



We wonder what niche in life, what characters 

 evolved through time, have made possible the 

 wonderful success of the family of hummingbirds. 

 Here are tiny creatures, brilliant metallic colors, 

 great vitality and activity, with long beaks and 

 tongues, a powerful hovering flight, and head- 



177 



