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at the extremity of a branch of an orange, a pome- 

 granate, or a citron tree, and sometimes even to 

 a straw pendant from a hut, if they find one 

 convenient for the purpose. The female is the 

 architect, while the male goes in quest of ma- 

 terials, such as fine cotton, moss, and the fibres 

 of vegetables. The nest is about the size of 

 half a walnut. They lay two eggs at a time, 

 and never more, in appearance like small peas, 

 as white as snow, with here and there a yellow 

 speck. The time of incubation continues twelve 

 tiays, at the end of which the young ones ap- 

 pear, being then not larger than a blue-bottle 

 fly. " I could never perceive" (says Father 

 Duteste) " how the mother fed them, except that 

 she presented the tongue covered entirely with 

 honey extracted from flowers." Those who have 

 tried to feed them with syrups, could not keep 

 them alive more than a few weeks ; these aliments, 

 though of easy digestion, are very different from 

 the delicate nectar collected from the fresh blos- 

 soms. It has been alleged by various naturalists, 

 that during the winter season they remain tor- 

 pid, suspended by the bill from the bark of a 

 tree, and are awakened into life when the flowers 

 begin to blow ; but these fictions are rejected ; 



