n UMMING-BIRDS. 



seen employed for half an hour at a time in darting among the 

 little groups of insects that dance in the air on a summer's even- 

 ing, and then retiring into an adjoining bush to rest, renewing 

 the attack at intervals with a dexterity far surpassing that of the 

 ordinary flycatchers. 



Their nest is usually fixed to the branch of a tree at a distance 

 of a few feet from the ground. It is a beautiful structure, very 

 small, and composed externally of lichens taken from the trunks 

 of trees or from palings : these are thickly glued on with the 

 saliva of the bird, so as to give firmness and consistency to the 

 whole fabric, and eff"ectively to keep out moisture. Within this 

 are thick matted layers of the fine wings of certain seeds, closely 

 laid together ; and, lastly, the downy substance from the great 

 mullein and from the stalks of the common fern lines the whole. 

 The base of the nest entwines the stem of the branch, to which 

 it closely adheres. The eggs are two in number, and the female 

 rears two broods in the course of the same season. 



The Little Humming'-Bixd. {Mellisiiga minima) may be regarded r.s 

 the smallest species of the family. It is an inhabitant of St. Domingo and 

 Jamaica. Of this little feathered fairy Mr. Gosse observes : " It is the only 

 humming-bird with which I am acquainted that has a real song : the others 

 have only a pertinacious chirping. I have sometimes," he says, " watched 

 with great delight the evolutions of this little species at a maringa tree. When 

 only one is present, he pursues the round of the blossoms soberly enough, 

 sucking as he goes, and every now and then sitting quietly on a twig. But if 

 two are about the tree, one will fly off, and suspendmg himself in the air a few 

 yards distant, the other presently shoots off to him, and then, without touch- 

 ing each other, they mount upwards, with a strong rushing of wings, perhaps 

 for five hundred feet. They then separate, and each shoots diagonally towards 

 the ground, like a ball from a rifle, and, wheeling round, comes up to the blos- 

 soms again, and sucks ?nd sucks as if it had not moved away at all. Frequently 

 one alone will mount in this manner, or dart on invisible wing diagonally up- 

 wards, looking exactly like a ' humble bee.' The nest is a minute cup-shaped 

 structure, placed i-pon or between the twigs of treer^ It is composed of silk- 

 cotton (the down of the bombyx), and ornamented externally with fragments 

 of lichen. The spirit of curiosity is manifested by this little bird as v\'ell as by 

 the larger species : when struck at, it will return in a moment and peep into 

 the net, or hover just in one's face. The stories told of humming-birds attack- 

 ing mca and striking at their eyes with their needle-like bills originated, no 

 doubt, in the exaggeration of fear, misinterpreting this innocent inquisitive- 

 ness." 



6—3 



