46 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



lien's eggs. It need not be added that young os- 

 triches know how to run and to eat as soon as they 

 come out of the shell. 



" Those are the largest eggs; now let us consider 

 the smallest ones. They are those of the humming- 

 bird, a charming creature whose splendid plumage 

 would outshine the most brilliant costly metals, pre- 

 cious stones, and jewels. There are some as small as 

 our large wasps and that certain spiders catch in 

 their webs just as the spiders of our country catch 

 gnats. Their nest is a cup of cotton no bigger than 

 half an apricot. Judge then the size of the eggs. It 

 would take three hundred and forty to make one 

 hen's egg, and fifty thousand to make one laid by the 

 epyornis." 



"I imagine the little humming-birds in their nest 

 must be all naked at first and blind, taking their food 

 from their mother's beak. ' ' 



"From the smallness of the egg it could not be 

 otherwise.'* 



