234 TEXAS AND ARIZONA 



leaves, and, what is more to the present purpose, 

 is covered with thousands, if not millions, of 

 small purple flowers. 



I had noticed it for the first time the forenoon 

 before ; and I noticed it then because, as I passed, 

 I heard to my great surprise and intense grati- 

 fication the buzz of a hummingbird's wings. I 

 was not in the least expecting to see any bird of 

 that sort during my brief winter's stay in Ari- 

 zona ; and which is better, ornithologically speak- 

 ing, to find the long expected or the unexpected, 

 is a point that wiser heads than mine may settle. 

 For myself, either happening will do, so it be not 

 too infrequent. 



My eyes turned of themselves in the right 

 direction, and there at my elbow was the tiny, 

 emerald-backed, familiar-looking beauty, hover- 

 ing before the blossoms of this spreading bush. 

 It was only for a second or two. Then for an- 

 other such period he perched on the slender tip 

 of the nearest mesquite, and then was away on 

 the wings of the wind. I waited for his return, 

 but not long enough, and came back to the city, 

 wondering. 



His upper parts, as I say, were green, and he 

 looked at a first glance much like our common 

 ruby-throat of the East. But in the few seconds 

 that my eye followed him a time too short for 



