HUMMING-BIRD. gl 



hung in a seemingly torpid state for a whole forenoon. No mo- 

 tion whatever of the lungs could be perceived, on the closest in- 

 spection, though at other times this is remarkably observable; 

 the eyes were shut; and when touched by the finger it gave 

 no signs of life or motion. I carried it out to the open air, and 

 placed it directly in the rays of the sun, in a sheltered situation. 

 In a few seconds respiration became very apparent; the bird 

 breathed faster and faster, opened its eyes, and began to look 

 about, with as much seeming vivacity as ever. After it had 

 completely recovered, I restored it to liberty; and it flew off 

 to the withered top of a pear tree, where it sat for some time 

 dressing its disordered plumage, and then shot off like a me- 

 teor. 



The flight of the Humming-bird from flower to flower, greatly 

 resembles that of a bee, but is so much more rapid, that the lat- 

 ter appears a mere loiterer to him. He poises himself on wing, 

 while he thrusts his long slender tubular tongue into the flowers 

 in search of food. He sometimes enters a room by the window, 

 examines the bouquets of flowers, and passes out by the op- 

 posite door or window. He has been known to take refuge in 

 a hot-house during the cool nights of autumn; to go regularly 

 out in the morning, and to return as regularly in the evening, 

 for several days together. 



The Humming-bird has, hitherto, been supposed to subsist al- 

 together on the honey, or liquid sweets, which it extracts from 

 flowers. One or two curious observers have indeed remarked, 

 that they have found evident fragments of insects in the stomach 

 of this species; but these have been generally believed to have 

 been taken in by accident. The few opportunities which Euro- 

 peans have to determine this point by observations made on 

 the living bird, or by dissection of the newly-killed one, have 

 rendered this mistaken opinion almost general in Europe. For 

 myself I can speak decisively on this subject. I have seen the 

 Humming-bird for half an hour at a time darting at those little 

 groups of insects that dance in the air in a fine summer evening, 

 retiring to an adjoining twig to rest, and renewing the attack 



VOL. n. L 



