72 HUM, THE SON OF BUZ. 



mosquito gauze, so that the sun and air found free admis- 

 sion, and yet our little rover could not pass out. On the 

 first sunny day he took an exact survey of our apartment 

 from ceiling to floor, humming about, examining every 

 point with his bill, all the crevices, mouldings, each little 

 indentation in the bed-posts, each window-pane, each chair 

 and stand ; and, as it was a very simply furnished seaside 

 apartment, his scrutiny was soon finished. We wondered, 

 at first, what this was all about ; but, on watching him 

 more closely, we found that he was actively engaged in 

 getting his living, by darting out his long tongue hither 

 and thither, and drawing in all the tiny flies and insects 

 which in summer-time are to be found in an apartment. 

 In short, we found that, though the nectar of flowers was 

 his dessert, yet he had his roast beef and mutton-chop to 

 look after, and that his bright, brilliant blood was not 

 made out of a simple vegetarian diet. Very shrewd and 

 keen he was, too, in measuring the size of insects before 

 he attempted to swallow them. The smallest class were 

 whisked off with lightning speed ; but about larger ones he 

 would sometimes wheel and hum for some minutes, dart- 

 ing hither and thither, and surveying them warily ; and if 

 satisfied that they could be carried, he would come down 

 with a quick, central dart which would finish the unfortu- 

 nate at a snap. The larger flies seemed to irritate him, 

 especially when they intimated to him that his plumage 



