FUERTES] HUMMINGBIRDS 183 



pierce through the flower into the honey-cups they cannot reach 

 otherwise, or curved bills to slip into queer tropical flowers that a 

 straight one could not enter. They live both on the nectar of 

 flowers and on small insects. 



Their feet are tiny and deHcate, but strong, for they perch a good 



deal. The variety of special 



^^flRjk decoration that the different ones 



^^(«^^^^F^^\ have is almost beyond belief, 



fl^ ^ and a mounted collection of rare 



^H^jjB^ hummingbirds is sure to be the 



l^B^^^^^ chief attraction in any museum of 



^^^^^^^^L Natural History. Some have 



^^^H^^Hk great forked and glittering tails, 



^^^ ^^^^N> others fancy crowns of different 



^B colors, or gleaming bibs of red, 



Wk gold, green or purple; still others 



have wide ruffs or frills dotted 



with emeralds or rubies, which stand out on each side of the throat 



like a broad cravat. Many have beautiful little "swansdown" 



frills about each foot — dainty little snowy pantallettes, while others 



are all glittering golden green everywhere. 



Then there are many which live in the dark, damp, dripping 

 forests of the lowlands, where insects eat one's belongings and 

 mildew soon ruins everything. These are without bright color of 

 any kind, dull, smoky, little sprites, sharing the somber dismal air 

 with the army-ants and mosquitos and whose heavy, humming 

 merges with that of the stinging, devouring insect pests that make 

 these places dangerous and terrible for men to stay. 



"The slender hummingbird whose molten-tinted wing but spoke the song 

 of fluttering joy, and in thy very hand turned to motley gray." — Patience 

 Worth. 



A Prize for the Best Arbor Day Essay 



Mrs. Britton very kindly offers a copy of Alice Lounsberry's 

 Wild Flowers For Young People as a prize for the best essay on 

 the topics included in the schedule for Arbor Day compositions 

 as given in the April number of the Nature-Study Review. 



