160 INSESSORES. 
burnished gold, and tinging them with the ever- 
changing hues of the most glittering gems, — upon 
others, arrayed in a plainer dress, she has bestowed 
that peculiarly fascinating and delightful charm, a 
voice that rings through the woodlands like a heaven- 
born melody. 
It has been observed that the Humming Birds 
seldom live long in confinement; and although they 
have been kept during a period of several weeks, yet 
they generally languish and die in a much shorter 
space of time. A creature so evidently formed for 
continued activity, whose very food is taken upon 
the wing, would naturally prove difficult to domesti- 
cate; and the impossibility of supplying it with its 
natural food, would at once suggest the uncertainty 
of success. The Polytmus has been known in sev- 
eral instances to live in an apartment sufficiently large 
to allow of free exercise; and by being constantly 
supplied with fresh flowers and a syrup prepared for 
the purpose, has been kept alive for a few weeks ; but 
the almost entire absence of the minute insects which 
constitute the principal part of their food, rendered 
them so feeble and emaciated as soon to cause their 
death from actual starvation. When first caught and 
placed in confinement, they mostly pine away, and 
die in a few days of fright or grief. Sometimes, in 
fits of desperation, they beat themselves about and 
butt their little heads against the sides of the cage, 
and soon fall down exhausted and die. 
In the manner of constructing their nests, the 
Humming Birds differ almost as widely as in their 
