170 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



fibres of vegetables. Of these materials a 

 nest is composed, of about the size of a hen's 

 egg cut in two, admirably contrived, and 

 warmly lined with cotton. They lay two 

 eggs at a time, and never more, about the 

 size of small peas, and as white as snow, with 

 here and there a yellow speck. The male 

 and the female sit upon the nest by turns; 

 but the female takes to herself the greatest 

 share. She seldom quits the nest, except a 

 few minutes in the morning and evening, 

 when the dew is upon the flowers, and their 

 honey in perfection. During this short in- 

 terval, the male takes her place ; for, as the 

 egg is so small, the exposing it ever so short 

 a time to the weather would be apt to injure 

 its contents, the surface exposed being so great 

 in comparison to the bulk. The time of in- 

 cubation continues twelve days ; at the end 

 of which the young ones appear, much about 

 the size of a blue-bottle fly. They are at 

 first bare ; by degrees they are covered with 

 down ; and at last feathers succeed, but less 

 beautiful at first than those of the old ones. 



" Father Labat's companion in the mission 

 to America, found the nest of a humming- 

 bird in a shed that was near the dwelling, 

 house, and took it in at a time when the 

 young ones were about fifteen or twenty days 

 old ; he then placed them in a cage at his 

 chamber-window, to be amused by their spor- 

 tive fluttermgs ; but he was soon surprised to 

 see the old ones, that came and fed their 

 brood regularly every hour in the day. By 

 these means they themselves soon grew so 

 tame that they seldom quitted the chamber ; 

 but without any constraint came to live with 

 their young ones. All four have frequently 

 come to perch upon their master's hand, 

 chirruping as if they had been at liberty 

 abroad. He fed them with a very fine clear 

 paste, made of wine, biscuit, and sugar ; they 

 thrust their tongues into this paste, till they 

 were satisfied, and then fluttered and chir- 

 ruped about the room. I never beheld any 

 thing more agreeable," continues he, " than 

 this lovely little family that had taken posses- 

 sion of my companion's chamber, and that flew 

 out and in just as they thought proper; but 

 were ever attentive to the voice of their 

 master, when he called them. In this man- 

 ner they lived with him for above six months; 

 but at a time when he expected to see a new 

 colony formed, he unfortunately forgot to tie 

 up their cage to the ceiling at night to pre- 



serve them from the rats, and he found they 

 were devoured in the morning." 



These birds on the continent of America, 

 continue to flutter the year round ; as their 

 food, which is the honey of flowers, never for- 

 sakes them in those warm latitudes where 

 they are found. But it is otherwise in the 

 islands of the Antilles, where, when the 

 winter season approaches, they retire, and, as 

 some say, continue in a torpid state during 

 the severity of that season. At Surinam and 

 Jamaica, where they constantly have flowers, 

 these beautiful birds are never known to dis- 

 appear. 



It is a doubt whether or not these birds 

 have a continued note of singing. All travel, 

 lers agree, that, beside the humming noise 

 produced by their wings, they have a little 

 interrupted chirrup; but Labat asserts, that 

 they have a most pleasing melancholy melody 

 in their voices, though small, and proportioned 

 to the organs which produce it. It is very 

 probable that, in different places, their notes 

 are also different ; and as there are some that 

 continue torpid all the winter, there may like- 

 wise be some with agreeable voices, though 

 the rest may in general be silent. 



The Indians formerly made great use of 

 this bird's plumage, in adorning their belts 

 and head-dress. The children take them in 

 the fields upon rings smeared with bird-lime: 

 they approach the place where the birds are 

 flying, and twirling their rings in the air, to 

 allure them, either by the colour or the sound, 

 that the simple little creature comes to rest 

 upon the ring, and is seized. They are then 

 instantly killed and gutted, and hung up in 

 the chimney to dry. Those who take greater 

 care, dry them in a stove, which is not so 

 likely to injure the plumage as the foregoing 

 method. Their beautiful feathers were once 

 the ornament of the highest rank of savage 

 nobility ; but at present they take the bird 

 rather for the purpose of selling it as a curio- 

 sity to the Europeans, than that of ornament 

 for themselves. All the taste for savage finery 

 is wearing out fast, even among the Ameri- 

 cans. They now begin to adopt, if not the 

 dresses of Europe, at least the materials of 

 which they are composed. The wandering 

 warrior is far from thinking himself fine at 

 present with his bow and his feathered crown: 

 his ambition reaches to higher ornaments ; a 

 gun, a blue shirt, and a blanket. 



