132 PASSERES. TROCHILID^. 



The head and tail are both excluded, the latter 

 erect like a wren's: and the bright eyes glance in 

 every direction. One of these contained two eggs, 

 the other a single young nearly fledged, which, with 

 the nest, I carried to Content to rear. 



It is interesting to observe the cleanliness of 

 animals ; the dung of young birds would greatly 

 inconvenience them in the nest, and probably cause 

 disease ; it is therefore wisely ordained that there 

 should be some mode of getting rid of it. Swallows 

 carry out the excrement of their young in their 

 beaks ; and this they are able to do, as at that 

 early season it is enclosed in a tenacious jelly. I 

 observed with admiration, and with adoration, of 

 the tender mercy of God in directing such minutiae 

 as these, for the comfort of His creatures, that this 

 little Humming-bird, while I was carrying it, ele- 

 vating its body above the edge of the nest, in the 

 bottom of which it ordinarily lay, ejected the alvine 

 discharge in a forcible jet, to the distance of several 

 feet. 



This little nestling I attempted to rear, and had 

 every prospect of succeeding, for it eagerly re- 

 ceived the juice of sugar-cane, which I adminis- 

 tered to it in a small quill, many times in the day, 

 sometimes adding small insects, as in a former case. 

 But on the third day I was necessitated to return to 

 Bluefields, and rode fifteen miles with the bird in 

 my hand, enclosed in an open box. I took every 

 care of it ; but whether from too long fasting, or 

 from the shaking, or exposure to the sun, I know 

 not, but it was dying when I arrived, and a few 



