THE HERMIT HUMMING-BIRDS 149 
handsome Humming-bird, at any rate. And then there 
is the Hermit Humming-bird. I must just describe 
him. His head and neck are—brown, the whole of 
his back is—brown, his wings, his throat, and_ his 
breast are—brown, and all the rest of him is—brown. 
Why, then, he is all brown, without any colours at 
all, unless there are some lying asleep, and ready to 
wake up and dart out all of a sudden, in the way I 
have explained to you. No, there are no colours, either 
asleep or awake, or, at any rate, hardly any. Com- 
pared to the Humming-birds I have been telling you 
about, this one is just a plain, dull bird, as plain and 
as dull, almost, as his wife, for that, you know, is what 
the wives of Humming-birds are like. Then is he a 
Humming-bird at all? Surely he is not one; he 
must be some other bird. Oh no, he is not. He is 
a Humming-bird, but he is a Hermit Humming- 
bird. Ihave not told you before—but now I will tell 
you—that there are some Humming-birds—ain fact a 
good many—that have no bright colours at all, and 
they are called hermits. A hermit, you know, is a 
person who lives in a cell or cave, and wears a long, 
brown gown, with a hood at one end of it for his 
head, and never dresses gaily or goes out to see 
things, but has what we should consider a very dull 
life; only as 4e likes it that makes it all right—for 
him, So these dull-coloured Humming - birds are 
