Gowns, and Robes. 49 



That last fact seems a little hard 

 on other divisions of the globe until 

 we remember the sun-birds of the 

 Eastern tropics. They almost rival 

 the Americans in their beauty of 

 plumage. But the smallest of the 

 sun-birds are twice the size of the 

 largest of Humming-birds. Perhaps 

 it is their marvellous minuteness 

 their rapid flight, their whirring 

 wings, which buzz as do the wings 

 of a bee that have roused men's 

 admiration and wonder almost as 

 much as those feathers. 



They are easily tamed, and learn 

 to come at call, and will take honey 

 from the hand, hovering upon their 

 revolving wings as their long bills 

 daintily sip the offered nectar. 



They are courageous little mites, 

 and fly in and out of their scraps 

 of nests fearlessly even when one 

 stands and stares at them. The 

 nests are made, generally, of the 

 fluffy tufts of the cotton-tree, formed 



