120 BEAUTIFUL BIRDS 
they suck up at the same time. You see the 
insects—of course I mean little insects—flies or 
gnats, not large moths and butterflies—get into the 
tubes of the flowers, to sip the nectar themselves, 
and they often fall into it, and are not able to get 
out again, but drown there; for to them it is like 
a little lake or pond—a pond of nectar, and, of 
course, very nice, but still, for all that, it drowns 
them. There is hardly any flower-cup that has 
not these drowned insects in it, and when the 
Humming-birds drink the nectar, they swallow the 
little insects at the same time. They could not 
live upon nectar only—they want animal food (as 
it is called) as well, and that is the way in which 
they get it. That is why when people have caught 
Humming-birds, and given them only nectar—or 
sugar and water, which is something like it—to 
live on, they have always died. There are no 
insects in it, no animal food. They had gravy, 
you see, but no meat, and they wanted meat as 
well as gravy. So they died, the poor Humming- 
birds. But I think it is almost better for a living 
sunbeam to die than to be kept living in a 
cage. 
But now, why do the Indians call the Humming- 
birds living sunbeams? Oh, but you will say I 
have told you that, and, besides, anybody could guess. 
