Teast ht BLEW TO PIECES 137 
sunbeam first, something else might happen to it 
when it had become a bird. At any rate, if one ex- 
planation does not seem satisfactory, there is always 
the other, and one of them must be the right one— 
until you are a clever person, which will not be yet 
awhile. So now we will go on, for there are some 
other Humming-birds with other explanations waiting. 
The Glow-glow Humming-bird (I do like that 
name) is smaller than any of the other three we have 
talked about, for it is less than half the size of a little 
wren. Its head and its back are shining green (you will 
be thinking all the Humming-birds are green, but wait 
a little !), its breast is white, but its throat—oh, its 
throat !—what is it? What can it be called? It 1s 
a rose that has burst into flame. No, it is a flame 
trying to look like a rose. No, it is neither of these. 
It is one of those stars that are of all colours, and 
change from one to the other as you look at them— 
from green to gold, from gold to topaz, from topaz 
to rosy red. Only “zs star changed into every 
colour at once, which was wonderful, and as he did 
that (and this was still more wonderful) he flew all 
to pieces, and little bits of him were scattered 
through the whole air, and when the sun rose and 
shone upon them, they were all Humming-birds, 
flying about with wings and feathers, and with long 
Latin names, so that there should be no doubt about 
