NEST OF THE HUMMING-B8IRD. 465 
their wings. When they hover they appear perfectly motionless, and 
one might fancy them suspended by an invisible thread. 
Specially adapted for an aérial life, they are unceasingly in motion, 
searching for their food in the calyx of flowers, from which they drink 
the nectar with so much delicacy and address that the plant is 
scarcely stirred. But the juice and honey of flowers, as some authors 
affirm, are not their only food—such unsubstantial diet would be 
insufficient to sustain the prodigious activity displayed almost every 
moment of their existence. 
The tongue of the Humming-bird is a microscopic instrument of 
marvellous arrangement. It is composed of two half-tubes placed 
one against the other, capable of opening and shutting, like a pair of 
pliers. Moreover, it is constantly moistened by a glutinous saliva, by 
which it is enabled to seize and hold insects—an arrangement not 
without analogy in the Woodpeckers. 
Proud of their gay colours, the Humming-birds take the greatest 
care to protect their plumage. They frequently dress themselves by 
passing their feathers through their bills. Their vivacity often 
amounts to petulance, and they frequently mznifest belligerent pro- 
pensities not to be expected in such minute creatures. Birds much 
larger than themselves they attack, threatening their eyes, harassing 
and pursuing them without intermission, and always succeeding in 
putting them to flight; even with their own race they frequently 
fight. If two males meet on the calyx of a flower, bristling with 
anger, and uttering their cry, they rush on each other. After the 
conflict is over the conqueror returns to reap the reward of his 
valour. 
The nest of the Humming-bird (Fig. 186) is a masterpiece. It is 
about the size of half an apricot. The materials are brought by the 
male, and arranged by the female. These consist of lichens, and are 
most artistically interwoven, the crevices being closed up with the 
bird’s saliva: the interior is padded with the silky fibres furnished by 
various plants. This pretty cradle is suspended to a leaf, sometimes 
to a small branch of rushes, or even to the straw roof of a hut. The 
hen bird lays twice a year a pair of pure white eggs, about the size of 
a pea. 
After an incubation of six days the young are hatched ; a week 
later they are capable of flight. During the breeding season the 
males are tender and demonstrative, and both parents show much 
affection for their progeny. 
These little creatures are universally admired for their elegance 
and beauty, and the names given them are generally descriptive of 
