104 CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



vine," which is quite common, and is applied with 

 corncobs, cocoanut husks, etc. 



I could now save the little soap I had left for 

 toilet purposes, and clean my clothes with the soap- 

 berry, which I found growing in abundance near the 

 pond, after I had made its acquaintance. 



In a tall tree near the house a ruby humming bird 

 made her nest, and I had an opportunity for watching 

 the whole process of nest-building. She was flying 

 continually from tree to tree, gathering cobwebs, after 

 the core of the nest was made, and plastering them 

 on with her bill, sitting inside and dropping the bill 

 over the side, rubbing it around swiftly and delicately, 

 firmly attaching the cobwebs and lichens. 



One cloudy morning, when the leaves of the trees 

 were a quiver noiselessly, and the birds hushed and 

 subdued as if in expectation of some disaster — ^for 

 the signs all indicated a big storm coming — I was at- 

 tracted by the actions of a brown humming bird. I 

 was standing under a large sapote tree, by the side of 

 the stream where I usually crossed it, and in front of 

 me dashed a big brown " hummer." After hovering 

 a few seconds above a large flat stone, it suddenly 

 dropped and touched its beak to it, then, rising in the 

 air a foot or so, it darted out its tongue for more 

 than an inch of its length, apparently drawing in 

 what had gathered on its beak. This performance 

 was repeated several times, until, being curious to 

 find the cause for these actions, I examined the stone, 

 and found on it some pulverized lime, which I had 

 dropped when coming up from the beach. When 



