HOW THE ERAIRIES MAKE CALLS 145 
who has blown about his nasty powders and frozen 
the hearts of the poor women, who are really so kind 
—at any rate they would be if only he would let 
them. 
Did I say, ‘“‘Such a little fairy-bird”? I think I 
did, and I was quite right, for it is just this very 
little Humming-bird that the fairies are so fond of 
riding on. ‘They go two at a time, sometimes. One 
sits on his back, and another lies on the broad fan 
of his tail, and the one on the back uses the little 
feather-threads as reins. It is so grand! The 
Humming-bird dashes up at the fairy’s own flower- 
door, and hovers there till she is ready to come out, 
and then dashes away with her to another flower, 
where another fairy lives. And that is how the 
fairies call upon each other in countries where there 
are Kumming-birds. Perhaps you will think that a 
Humming-bird—even quite a little Humming-bird 
(and they are none of them big)—is rather a large 
gee-gee for a fairy to ride on. But you must remem- 
ber that in tropical countries fairies grow to quite a 
remarkable size. 
Well, that is eight Humming-birds that I have 
tried to describe to you (though it is very like trying 
to describe a sunset to some one who has never seen 
one), and perhaps you think I have chosen all the 
most beautiful ones first, and that there are no more 
K 
