290 HISTORY OF 



Of these materials a nest is composed, of about 

 the size of a hen's egg cut in two, admirably con- 

 trived, 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. Dur- 

 ing this short interval 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 in- 

 jure its contents, the surface exposed being so 

 great in comparison to the bulk. The time of 

 incubation continues twelve days ; at the end of 

 which the young ones appear, much about the 

 size of a blue-bottle fly. They are at flrst 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 sportive flutterings ; 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, 



