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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



person. He comes so suddenly as to give no v.arning to the eye ; we 

 hear a buzz, see the bird near us stationary, his form distinct, and when 

 he leaves, so quick and sudden is his tiiglit, that the eye can scarcely 

 trace his pathway. The muscles of his wings are more powerful and 

 active, in proportion to his size, than those of any other bird, and the 

 wino-s are very long and sharp. For this reason he can easily hover, 

 apparently motionless, for any length of time, before a flower Avhose 

 honey he wishes to obtain. He thus sips the nectar of one flower 

 after another for hours in succession, without showing any signs of 

 weariness, or disturbing in the least the most delicate blossom. 



Fig. 1. 



RtTBT-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD {TrochUus colubiis), common in the United States. 



If any one wishes to observe these birds and their habits, let him, 

 on a fine, pleasant morning, visit a cluster of gooseberry bushes when 

 in bloom, of whose honey they are exceedingly fond, and he will prob- 

 ably find one or more of them quietly searching the flowers for food. 

 If disturbed, he will frequently rise to a considerable height in an 

 oblique direction, then dart down, almost with the velocity of a bullet, 

 past the place of annoyance, and rise on the opposite side to an equal 

 height ; then return by reversing his course, and so repeat these 

 sweeping movements, till he sufliciently expresses his disapprobation, 

 drives away his adversary, or retires in disgust. 



If two birds foraging come together, they usually fight ; one drives 

 the other away, and then goes on feeding as if nothing had happened. 

 ]\Lr, Gosse says: "If two vervain humming-birds are about the mo- 

 ringa-tree, one will fly off" and suspend himself in the air a few yards 

 distant, the other presently shoots ofl*to him ; and then, without touch- 

 ing each other, they mount upward with strong, rushing wings, per- 

 haps for 500 feet. They then separate, and each shoots diagonally 

 toward the ground, like a ball from a rifle, and, wheeling round, comes 



