HUMMING-BIRDS. 



IF these exquisite little creatures are 

 called Humming-birds, you little 

 folk may ask, why wasn't the Bee 

 called a Buzzard because it buzzes? 



Well, really, that is a question which 

 I will not attempt to answer, but the 

 fact remains that no other name would 

 have been so appropriate for these 

 jewel-like birds but the one above, on 

 account of the humming sound which 

 they produce when hovering in their 

 curious fashion over a tempting blos- 

 som, and feeding on its contents while 

 suspended in air. 



There are four hundred and sixty- 

 seven species of these little birds, 

 and no two of them, 'tis s»id, make 

 precisely the same sound, one pro- 

 ducing a noise exactly like the whiz- 

 zing of a wheel driven by machinery, 

 while that of another is very like 

 the droning hum of a large Bee. But 

 no two voices in even one human 

 family, you know, are alike, so it is 

 not amazing that the rule holds good 

 among the birds. 



You can capture and tame these 

 lovely little creatures, too, though I 

 wouldn't advise you to keep them m a 

 cage very long. They will pine awa}^ 

 and look very doleful if vou do. 



Rather, after you have accustomed 

 them to your presence, and fed them 

 regularly upon the honey and syrup 

 and other sweets which they dearly 

 love, open the cage door and give them 

 their liberty. A gentleman once did 

 this and was delighted to see them re- 

 turn to their old quarters in a very lit- 

 tle while. By watching them the next 

 morning after setting them free again, 

 he found they had been pining for a 

 nice fresh garden Spider which they 

 had been accustomed to daintily pick 

 from the center of his web. He had 

 provided them with Spiders and Flies, 

 but they wanted to flit about and 

 search for themselves. For dessert 

 they liked the sweets which he gave 

 them, so back they went to their cage, 

 instead of extracting it from the flowers 

 with their long bills, as they were wont 

 to do. 



A Humming-bird one summer built 

 its nest in a butternut tree very near a 

 lady's window. She could look right 

 down into its nest, and one day, as it be- 

 gan to rain, she saw the mother-bird 

 take one or two large leaves from a 

 tree near by and cover her little bird- 

 lings with it. She understood how to 

 make an umbrella, didn't she? 



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