ree? BEAUTIFUL BIRDS 
which makes them the same kind of shape, and when 
the skirt is part of a white dress then they are of the 
same colour. But think how different they really are ! 
Why, one is a petticoat and the other is an upper skirt. 
So you must always remember that, though two 
animals look the same, they may really be very 
different. 
Now although the Humming-birds, or living sun- 
beams, are all of them small birds, yet they are not all 
of the same size, and some are quite big compared to 
others, just as a peacock butterfly is quite big, com- 
pared to a tiny blue one, whilst even the tiny little 
blue one may be big compared to some very small 
moths. Then, again, their beaks are of all kinds of 
different shapes and lengths. Some are quite straight, 
whilst others are bent like a sabre or even a sickle, and 
one Humming-bird has his so very much bent indeed, 
that it looks like half of a black ring or bracelet or 
something else that is quite round. As for length, 
some are shorter than a quite short pin, whilst others 
are longer than a very long darning-needle. 
Of course there is a reason for they beaks ‘of 
Humming-birds being so different, and the reason 
is that they have to go into different flowers, and 
must fit into them as a finger fits into a finger- 
stall or a periwinkle into its shell. If the part of 
the flower that holds the nectar is straight, then 
