214 OBober 1748. 



purfue each other into the rooms, fight a 

 little, and flutter away again. Sometimes 

 they come to a flower which is withering, 

 and has no more juice in it ; they then in a 

 fit of anger pluck it off, and throw it on 

 the ground, that it may not millead them 

 for the future. If a garden contains a great 

 number of thefe little birds, they are feen 

 to pluck off the flowers in fuch quantities, 

 that the ground is quite covered with them, 

 and it feems as if this proceeded from a 

 motion of envy. 



Commonly you hear no other found 

 than their humming, but when they fly 

 againfl each other in the air, they make a 

 chirping noife like a fparrow or chicken. I 

 have fometimes walked with feveral other 

 people in fmall gardens, and thefe birds 

 have on all fides fluttered about us, with- 

 out appearing very my. They are io fmall 

 that one would eafily miftake them for great 

 humming-bees or butterflies, and theirflight 

 refembles that of the former, and is incre- 

 dibly fwift. They have never been ob- 

 ferved to feed on infedls or fruit ; the nec- 

 tar of flowers, feems therefore to be their 

 only food. Several people have caught fome 

 humming birds on account of their fingular 

 beauty, and have put them into cages, 

 where they died for want of a proper food. 



However 



