152 BIRD WORLD. 



Once, while sitting on a piazza in the country, along 

 which there grew many flowers which the Humming 

 Bird loved, a lady saw two of them go through a very 

 remarkable and beautiful movement. The two birds 

 hovered in the air about ten feet apart, their wings 

 beating so fast that it w^as impossible to see them. 

 Suddenly the birds shot down and passed each other, 

 then up, till each stopped in the position which the 

 other one had held. This movement they repeated 

 several times. It seemed as if the birds were execut- 

 ing some beautiful dance. 



South and North America are the only countries 

 which possess Humming Birds. In the eastern part 

 of the United States we have only one species, but 

 in California several are found, and as one goes 

 southward, they become more numerous; in South 

 America there are several hundred species. Among 

 these are some of the most gorgeous colors in nature. 

 The throat and neck feathers particularly shine with 

 changeable colors, like brilliant jewels. The bills of 

 the birds, too, are extremely interesting. Some are 

 long and curved, so that the bird can feed from the 

 honey at the bottom of the long tube-like flowers. It 

 is a sad sieht in South America to see the boxes of 

 Humming Birds' skins pulled from their poor, bleed- 

 ing little bodies and sent to the milliner's to decorate 

 women's hats. 



