BLOOMS AND BUZZINGS. 269 



ing away, with squeaky but fierce cries, any 

 other of her race who ventured to sip from the 

 coral cups so profusely offered. 



The season for humming-birds opened with 

 the locust blossoms next door, which were for 

 days a mass of blooms and buzzings, of birds 

 and bees. But when the fragrant flowers began 

 to fall and the ground was white with them, 

 one bird settled herself on our honeysuckle, and 

 there took her daily meals for a month. Being 

 not six feet from where I sat for hours every 

 day, I had the first good opportunity of my life 

 to learn the ways of one of these queer little 

 creatures in feathers. 



After long searching and much overhauling 

 of the books, I made her out to be the female 

 broad-tailed humming-bird, who is somewhat 

 larger than the familiar ruby-throat of the East. 

 Her mate, if she had one, never came to the 

 vine ; but whether she drove him away and dis- 

 couraged him, or whether he had an indepen- 

 dent source of supply, I never knew. She was 

 the only one whose acquaintance I made, and in 

 a month's watching I came to know her pretty 

 well. 



In one way she differed strikingly from any 

 humming-bird I have seen : she alighted, and 

 rested frequently and for long periods. Droll 

 enough it looked to see such an atom, such a 



