86 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



away from all the other competitors so well 

 as the ostrich does from his rival giants ; and 

 he is not very brilliantly-coloured for a hum- 

 ming-bird, being only glossy-green and white. 

 Still, he can claim to be a distinguished and 

 remarkable bird quite apart from his size, 

 just as the ostrich can ; he is the only 

 humming-bird that can sing, and a very 

 tiny squeaky performance his must be, one 

 would think. The giant birds, being big like 

 beasts, go further in the same direction, and 

 have plumage of black or brown or grey, like a 

 beast's coat, to say nothing of living on the 

 ground all their lives. 



The family of tiny humming-birds, on the 

 other hand, go to the extreme of being as 

 " lively " as possible ; not only do many of 

 them have the most brilliant and glittering 

 plumage of any birds, while hardly any are 

 quite dull, but they are more truly flyers than 

 any other birds. It is not that they remain 

 long on the wing at a time, but that they use 

 their feet so little, and are so clever in their 

 flight. When they perch they sit still, or if 

 they want to move along the twig, they whizz 

 their wings to help themselves ; and they 



