262 THE HUMMING-BIRD. 



now a ruby, then a topaz, then an emerald, and then all bur- 

 nished gold." 



Delicate and tender as these little creatures are, seeming as 

 if they could not exist for a moment beyond the confines of a 

 sunbeam, they are nevertheless scattered very extensively over 

 the whole continent of America : they were found in the deso- 

 late regions of the south, near Cape Horn, hovering over the 

 fuchsia blossoms at Port Famine, and even flying about in 

 snow-storms. In the north they have been seen in the still 

 more dreary regions of Prince William's Sound, on the same 

 parallel of latitude as the Shetland Islands, to the north of 

 Scotland; and, what is even more extraordinary, they were 

 discovered on the snowy heights of the Orizaba mountains, 

 three times the. height of Snowdon above the level of the sea. 

 In all these desolate situations they seemed as lively as when 

 under the influence of burning sunbeams near the equator. It 

 was in one of these latter situations that Mr. Bullock, who 

 visited Mexico with a view to the natural history of a country 

 then scarcely known, saw how ingeniously these little birds con- 

 trived to rob the webs of the spiders of that country of the flies 

 that were entangled in them. They would advance beneath 

 the web, and enter the various labyrinths and cells, taking care 

 to make good their retreat if the spider sallied forth to repel 

 them. In ascending some of the spiders' fly-traps great skill 

 and care were required ; sometimes the bird had scarcely room 

 for his little wings to spread, and the least mismanagement 

 would have ensnared him in the meshes of the web, and ensured 

 his destruction. It was only the outworks of the comparatively 

 small spiders, of about his own size, that the Humming-bird 

 durst attack, as the larger sort rushed out in defence of their 

 property, when the robber would shoot off like a sunbeam, and 

 could be only traced, like an electric spark, by the luminous 

 glow of its refulgent colours. 



Table XIV. (See page 15.) 

 Contains the third order, consisting of birds with two toes 

 before and two behind, for the purpose of climbing. This 



