RUBY-THROATED HUMMING BIRD. 459 



seat, though no more than three or four feet from the observer. 

 In a single week the young are on the wing, and in this situa- 

 tion still continue to be fed with their nursing sweets by the 

 assiduous parents. 



Creatures of such delicacy and uncommon circumstances, 

 the wondrous sports of Nature, everything appears provided 

 for the security of their existence ; the brood are introduced 

 to life in the warmest season of the year : variation of tempera- 

 ture beyond a certain medium would prove destructive to 

 these exquisite forms. The ardent heats of America have 

 alone afforded them support ; no region so cool as the United 

 States produces a set of feathered beings so delicate and 

 tender ; and, consequently, any sudden extremes, by produ- 

 cing chill and famine, are fatal to our Humming Birds. In the 

 remarkably wet summer of 1831 very few of the young were 

 raised in New England. In other seasons they comparatively 

 swarm, and the numerous and almost gregarious young are 

 then seen, till the close of September, eagerly engaged in sip- 

 ping the nectar from various showy and tubular flowers, partic- 

 ularly those of the trumpet Bignonia and wild balsam, with 

 many other conspicuous productions of the fields and gardens. 

 Sometimes they may also be seen collecting dimunitive in- 

 sects, or juices from the tender shoots of the pine-tree. While 

 thus engaged in strife and employment, the scene is peculiarly 

 amusing. Approaching a flower, and vibrating on the wing 

 before it, with the rapidity of lightning the long, cleft, and 

 tubular tongue is exerted to pump out the sweets, while the 

 buzzing or humming of the wings reminds us of the approach 

 of some larger sphinx or droning bee. No other sound or 

 song is uttered, except occasionally a slender chirp while flit- 

 ting from a flower, until some rival bird too nearly approaches 

 the same plant ; a quick, faint, and petulant squeak is then 

 uttered, as the little glowing antagonists glide up in swift and 

 angry gyrations into the air. The action at the same time is so 

 sudden, and the flight so rapid, that the whole are only traced 

 for an instant, like a gray line in the air. Sometimes, without 

 any apparent provocation, the little pugnacious vixen will, for 



