TROCHILID.E. 99 



attack, until tlieir anger lias expended itself by its 

 own fury, or until the bee, roused from its apathy, 

 puts forth powers that drive the invader from the 

 field. 



The domestic architecture of the Humming-birds 

 is amongst the most interesting of the many singular 

 features in their liistory. In form and size the nests 

 vary much in different species, and a similar difference 

 exists in the situations where they are placed. Some 

 of these fairy cradles are not larger than the half of 

 a walnut-shell, and such coracle-shaped structures 

 are amongst the neatest and most beautiful. The 

 members of the genus Trochilus and their allies 

 exhibit the greatest ingenuity, not so much in the 

 construction of their nests as in the lavish decoration 



Fig. 38.— nest of humming-bibd. 



of their outer walls. With the utmost skill they fasten 

 to the exterior morsels of flat lichen, the larger pieces 

 in the middle, and the smaller on the part attached 

 to the branch. Now and then a pretty feather is 

 intertwined or fastened to the outer side, the stem 

 being always so disposed that the feather stands out 

 beyond the surface. These little cup-shaped nests 

 are frequently placed on the bifurcation of some 

 horizontal branch near the ground, or, at other times, 

 higher up towards the summit of the bush in which 

 they are built. 



