72 STDIFICATIOff. 



innermost of silky fibres obtained from various 

 plants, all extremely delicate and soft. On this 

 comfortable bed, as in contradiction to the axiom 

 that the smaller the species the greater the num- 

 ber of eggs, the female lays only two, which are 

 pure white, and almost oval. Ten days are re- 

 quired for their hatching, and the birds raise two 

 broods in a season. In one week the young are 

 ready to fly, but are fed by the parents for nearly 

 another week. They receive their food directly 

 from the bill of their parents, which disgorge it 

 in the manner of canaries or pigeons. It is my 

 belief that no sooner are the young able to pro- 

 vide for themselves than they associate with 

 other broods and perform their migration apart 

 from the old birds, as I have observed twenty or 

 thirty young Humming-birds resort to a group 

 of trumpet-flowers, when not a single old male 

 was to be seen. They do not receive the full 

 brilliancy of their colours until the succeeding 

 spring, although the throat of the male birds is 

 strongly imbued with the ruby tints before they 

 leave us in autumn." Generally speaking, the 

 nest of the Ruby-throated Humming-bird is 

 fixed on the upper surface of some mossy 

 branch, at no great distance from the ground ; 

 but other and variable sites are occasionally se- 

 lected. 



Prince Maximilien de Neu-"Wied, upon one oc- 

 casion, when examining the flower of a palm-tree 

 in Brazil, found affixed to it the nest of the 



