THE HUMMING- WIKDS. 291 



without tlio least difficulty, in an iustaiit, and appear to be possessed of superior powers of 

 vision, making directly towards a martin or a blue-bird, when lifty or sixty yards from 

 them, and reaching them before they are aware of their approach. No bird seems to 

 resist their attacks ; but they arc sometimes chased by the larger kinds of humble-bees, 

 of which they seldom take the least notice, as their superiority of flight is sufficient to 

 leave these slow-mo^^ng insects far behind them in the short space of a minute. 



"^Vhero," saj's Audubon, " is the person who, on seeing one of these lovely little creatures 

 moving on huramiug wiuglets through the air, suspended as if by magic in it, flitting 

 from one flower to another with motions as graceful as they are light and airy, pm'suing 

 its course over our extensive continent, and jaelding new delights wherever it is seen ; — ■ 

 where is the person, I ask of you, kind reader, who, on observing this glittering fragment 

 of the rainbow, would not pause, admire, and instantly tiu'n his mind with reverence 

 toward the Almight}- Creator, the wonders of whose hand we at every step discover, and 

 of whose sublime conceptions we everj'where observe the manifestations in his admirable 

 system of creation ?" • 



Humming-birds in general maj' be said to inhabit chiefly the intra-tropical regions of 

 America, includiag the West Indies ; but that they are capable of sustaining a con- 

 siderable reduction of temperature, and of spreading themselves into comparatively 

 rigorous cHmes, is evident from the observations of Captain King, who, in his survey of 

 the southern coasts, met with numerous examples of these diminutive creatures flying 

 about in a snow storm, near the Straits of Magellan ; and discovered two species in the 

 remote island of Juan Fernandez. Two other hardy species have been long known to 

 migrate duiing summer far into the interior of North America, — A-iz., the rufi-necked 

 humming-bird {T. rufiis), discovered during Cook's voyage in Nootka Sound, and since 

 traced bj- Ivotzebue to the 61st degree of north latitude, along the western shores ; and 

 the rubj'-throated huuuning-bird (T. cohihris), which was found breeding, by Mr. Drum- 

 mond, near tlie sources of the Elk River, and is known to reach at least as far north as 

 the o7th parallel. 



The best and most ample history of these " feathered gems " ma}^ be gathered from the 

 pages of Audubon and "Wilson, while the superb adornment of their beautifully pencilled 

 plumage, so rich in its varied combinations of lustrous green and gold, may be studied 

 ^\'ith advantage in the sumptuous pages of M. Lesson and Mr. Goidd. They are of 

 a most lively and active disposition, almost perpetually ujion the wing, and darting 

 from flower to flower with the bus}', rapiditj^ rather of a bee than a bird. In the 

 uncidtivated districts of the coimtry, they inhabit the forests, but in peopled regions 

 they flock without fear into the gardens, poising themselves in the air, while they 

 thrust theii' long extensile tongues into every flower in search of food. 



According to Bullock, they will remain suspended in a space so 'small, that they have 

 scarcely room to move their wings, and the humming noise which they produce proceeds 

 entirelj- from the prodigious velocity with which they vibrate those tiny organs, by 

 means of which they will remain in the air almost motionless for hours together. An 

 older writer, Firmin, a physician of Surinam, compares this action to that of the bee-like 

 flics, which in still and sultry weather we often see hovering in the vicinity of stiU watei's ; 

 and Wilsou saj's, that when a humming-bird arrives before a thicket of trumpet flowers 

 in bloom, he susftends himself so steadily that his wings become " invisiblcj or like a 

 mist." They often enter windows, and after examining any fresh bouquets with which 

 fair hands may have decked the table, they will dart Idee simbeams out by an opjjosite 

 door or window. Dui-Ing the breeding season, they become jealous of encroachments, 

 and exliibit great boldness in defence of their supposed rights. When any one approaches 

 their nest, they will dart around with a humming noise, frequently passing within a few 

 inches of the inti-uder's head. A small species called the Mexican star {T. cyanapoc/on) 



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