592 SLENDER-BILLED BIRDS. 



hours more it becomes tame enough to sip its favorite 

 beverage from a saucer, in the interval flying backwards 

 and forwards in the room for mere exercise, and then 

 resting on some neighbouring elevated object. In dark, 

 or rainy weather, they seem to pass the time chiefly doz- 

 ing on the perch. They are also soon so familiar as to 

 come to the hand that feeds them. In cold nights, or at 

 the approach of frost, the pulsation of this little dweller 

 in the sunbeam, becomes nearly as low as in the torpid 

 state of the dormouse ; but on applying warmth, the almost 

 stagnant circulation revives, and slowly increases to the 

 usual state. 



The Humming-Bird is only 3^ inches in length, and 4;^ in alar ex- 

 tent. The bill, legs, feet, and eyes black. The feathers of the breast 

 in the male, according to the light in which they are viewed, vary 

 from a deep brownish black, to a fiery crimson or glowing orange. — 

 In the young hirds the bill is broader and shorter, and traces of the 

 rigid metallic glossed feathers begin to appear on the throat, towards 

 the close of autumn. At first the chin for a little space is palish-yel- 

 low. 



