eae BEAUTIFUL BIRDS 
_ hand.” ‘Come then,” said the green, “and let us fight 
for the mastery. Whichever wins, the other will be 
improved by it. We will struggle together, and we 
will see which is the strongest.”” So they came, those 
blues of wonder, from the violet, the turquoise, the 
sapphire, and the amethyst—yes, and from the sky, 
the stars, and the sea as well—and they fell in a 
glory on that glorious green that had been there 
- before them, and fought with it to possess the breast 
of that Humming-bird. And they are fighting to 
possess it now. They gleam and flash and sparkle 
and glow, and try to out-glory each other; but 
I think that that wonderful green is the strongest, 
although he has such a lot of blues to fight against. 
But stronger than any and than all of them is the 
sun on that Humming-bird’s gorget, that gorget of 
gold and topaz, and copper and bronze, and silver and 
gleaming white. 
That is what that Humming-bird is like, and that 
is how he got some of his wonderful colours; so, at 
least, the Indians say, only some of them say that it 
was the blues who were there first, and asked the 
green to come. But always, in history, you will find 
that there are different opinions about the same thing. 
People are not a// agreed, even about the battle of 
Waterloo. 
So, you see, we have been able to find one other 
