207 



HOW THE SWIFTS CAME TO BUILD IN AUNT DORO- 

 THY'S CHIMNEY. 



Once upon a time there was a family of 

 Humming Birds who always spent the 

 winter in Mexico, In this family, besides 

 the father and mother, there was a grand- 

 father and grandmother, and also a great- 

 grandfather and great-grandmother, and 

 ever so many children. It was the cus- 

 tom of the Humming Bird family to 

 spend Christmas day together, and they 

 assembled early in the morning in a beau- 

 tiful live oak tree, the leaves of which 

 were so much like holly leaves that 

 no Christmas wreaths were needed. The 

 tree was a handsome one and suitable in 

 every way for a Christmas Humming 

 Bird party. At last every one had come 

 except young Master Topaza Humming 

 Bird, who could not resist the temptation 

 of flying from place to place along the 

 way, thrusting his long bill, of which he 

 was very proud, into the beautiful blos- 

 soms which he found, and taking a little 

 sip of honey from each one. Great-grand- 

 father Humming Bird missed Master To- 

 paza and called to his little brother Iris 

 to go and find him and bring him imme- 

 diately to the oak tree. Iris promptly 

 obeyed and soon returned with his broth- 

 er. Then great-grandfather, who always 

 was given first place on such occasions, 

 fluttered his wings and said : "Dear chil- 

 dren, were our cousins, the Swifts, invited 

 to take part with us in our concert this 

 afternoon?" 



"Oh, yes," said Mamma Humming 

 Bird, "I met papa Swift one day while I 

 was getting honey from the beautiful red 

 blossoms of a shrub which grows in the 

 southern end of this valley. I invited him 

 to come to-day and bring all his family, 

 and he said he would, and also that he 

 would come early, for he wished to have 



us tell him about the lovely place where 

 we spent last sunmier. 



Little Coquette Humming Bird sat 

 watching her brother Helenae — what a 

 queer name for a boy Humming Bird, 

 you think — but probably his parents gave 

 it to him because he was always prinking 

 and preening his feathers. "Just like a 

 girl," his brothers said. But however 

 much Coquette might preen her feathers, 

 she never looked as beautiful as her 

 brother Helenae, and that was what she 

 was thinking about as she watched him. 

 He carefully arranged the three long, 

 slender, greenish-black feathers which 

 grew on either side of his head, and the 

 metallic green feathers of his throat were 

 so glistening and bright that little Co- 

 quette imagined she could see herself in 

 them as she could in a little spring where 

 she often went for a drink. After Helenae 

 had finished his toilet he moved his wings 

 very rapidly a few times, and raised him- 

 self up as high as he could on his feet 

 without taking them off the limb on which 

 he sat, then he settled down, closing his 

 eyes for a moment. Just then Coquette 

 cried out : "The Swifts are coming ! Look, 

 no one else could fly so fast ! There they 

 are near those old mahogany trees on the 

 bank of the river." There was a grand 

 rustle of preparation that everything 

 might be in order and every one look his 

 best when the cousins arrived. In a few 

 moments mamma Swift and her daugh- 

 ter Cyprelus came, alighting on the same 

 branch together. Then there was a whir 

 of wings that sounded like the wind flap- 

 ping the sails on a sail-boat, and there 

 was an excited chirping of welcomes and 

 "Merry Christmas" on both sides. 



Grandfather Humming Bird was a 



