THE SPARROW KIND. 



CHAPTER VI. 



OF THE HUMMING-BIRD, AND ITS VARIETIES. 



HAVING given some history of the manners of 

 the most remarkable birds of which accounts can 

 be obtained, I might now go to a very extensive 

 tribe, remarkable for the splendour and the va- 

 riety of their plumage : but the description of the 

 colours of a beautiful bird has nothing in it that 

 can inform or entertain ; it rather excites a long- 

 ing, which it is impossible for words to satisfy. 

 Naturalists, indeed, have endeavoured to satisfy 

 this desire by coloured prints; but, beside that 

 these at best give only a faint resemblance of 

 nature, and are a very indifferent kind of paint- 

 ing, the bird itself has a thousand beauties, that 

 the most exquisite artist is incapable of imitating. 

 They, for instance, who imagine they have a 

 complete idea of the beauty of the little tribe of 

 Manikin birds, from the pictures we have of 

 them, will find themselves deceived when they 

 compare their draughts with nature. The shin- 

 ing greens, the changeable purples, and the glossy 

 reds, are beyond the reach of the pencil ; and 

 very far beyond the coloured print, which is but 

 a poor substitute to painting. I have therefore 

 declined entering into a minute description of 

 foreign birds of the sparrow kind, as sounds 

 would never convey an adequate idea of colours. 



