68 STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 



no larger than a humble bee. But his tiny body is adorned with rainbow 

 colours, and the feathers on his throat have a look like velvet, and change 

 colour every moment in a wonderful and beautiful manner. 



There is one great humming-bird that is a giant among his fellows, and 

 the least attractive of any of them. You see him in the picture. He is as 

 large as a sparrow, and is dressed in a rather sober costume of brownish green, 

 the under part of the body tinted with red. The tail is golden green; and the 

 feathers on the throat are velvety, but lack brightness of colour. 



The life of the humming-bird is spent among the brightest scenes of 

 nature. He flashes from flower to flower with the rapidity of lightning, and 

 hovers over first one and then another. His food consists of the tiny insects 

 that live amid the petals, and Nature has provided him with a long and 

 slender bill on purpose to pick them out. 



Sometimes the bill is straight, and sometimes it is curved. In some 

 species it curves upwards, and the bird is called the avocet humming-bird ; 

 in others it is bent like a sickle. 



The tongue is slender, and can be put out to a great length. It is made 

 up of two parts, like round tubes, that are laid side by side for nearly their 

 whole length, and then are separate. It is very sticky, and when it is thrust 

 into the flower the insects stick to it and cannot get away. And the edge of 

 the tongue is fringed with tiny bristles, that still further help to entrap them. 



The power of wing in the humming-bird is very great indeed. The wings 

 themselves are very long, and the muscles that move them are exceedingly 

 strong. Small as the humming-bird is, he can dart away or continue to fly 

 for a longer time than you would believe. And he can poise himself in the 

 air as the insects do, and keep up a kind of quick vibration with his wings. 

 His movements arc so quick that his lovely wings can hardly be perceived 

 unless the sun flashes upon them. In the tropical garden, full as it is of all 

 kinds of splendid flowers, he is seen in perfection, and there are crowds of 

 brilliant humming-birds darting about in gold and purple and crimson. 



They are extremely passionate, and if the flower disappoints them in the 

 quantity of insects or nectar it contains, they will tear it to pieces. And they 

 are very brave, and will fight desperately in defence of their nest and their 

 young ones. 



Tlieir nest is the most exquisite little fabric you can imagine. It is so 

 small and fairy-like that it is often hung to a leaf, or to the end of a twig. 



