HUMMIXG-BIRDS. 



469 



are totally unlike those of other birds. So quickly do they 

 dart backwards and forwards, that the eye can hardly follow 

 them. Even when poising themselves before a flower, with 

 such inconceivable rapidity do their wings move, that even 

 then their bright colours are scarcely perceptible; and anon 

 they shoot off to sip the nectar 

 from another cup. Unlike the 

 systematic way in which bees 

 proceed, they seem to delight 

 in darting, now in one direc- 

 tion, now in the other ; now 

 for a moment they perch on 

 a spray, probing, as they sit, 

 the flowers nearest to them ; 

 then again they fly off, in their 

 eccentric course, to another 

 spot. 



'' Wherever a creeping vine 

 opens its fragrant cluster, or 

 wherever a flower blooms, 

 may these little things be 

 seen," writes Edwards, in his 

 usual graphic way ; ''in the 

 garden, or in the woods, over 

 the water, everywhere, they 

 are darting about, of all sizes, 

 from one that might easily be mistaken for a different variety 

 of bird, to the tiny hermit — T. Rufigaster, whose body is 

 not half the size of the bee's- — buzzino- about. Sometimes 

 they are seen chasing each other, in sport, with a rapidity 

 of flight and intricacy of path the eye is puzzled to follow. 



TUFTED COQUETTE AND NEST. 



