590 BIRDS. 



from flower to flower, extracting their quintessence alone ; antl 

 never quits a climate where perpetual spring renews without ceas- 

 ing the delicious luxuries on which it banquets. It is seldom that 

 the humming-bird retires from the intratropical regions ; appearing 

 successively to advance and recede with the sun on either side of 

 the line, in pursuit of an uninterrupted summer. 



The Indians, struck with the lustre and fire of its plumage, 

 call it the sun-beam ; and the Spaniards tomino, from its minute 

 weight. The tongue resembles the section of a silken thread, and 

 the bill has the appearance of a fine needle. The little eyes ap- 

 pear like sparks of a diamond, and the feathers of the wings are 

 so delicate, as to look transparent. 



The feet of this creature are so small, that they are scarcely 

 perceptible. He uses them, indeed, but little ; for he is continually 

 employed in a humming and rapid flutter, in which the agitation 

 of his wings are so quick, that they are altogether invisible. Like 

 an inconstant lover, he hastens from flower to flower, to gratify 

 his desires and multiply his enjoyments. 



The courage and vivacity of these birds are nevertheless sur- 

 prising. They pursue, with a furious audacity, birds twenty times 

 their size ; fasten themselves upon their body, and allow them- 

 selves to be carried away by their flight; while they are, in the 

 mean while, pecking them with redoubled strokes of their bill, 

 till their little wrath is appeased. They are solitary till the pairing 

 season, when they engage busily, by pairs, in constructing with 

 moss, lined with the down of the great mullein, a small, round, 

 elegant nest, corresponding with the delicacy of their body. It 

 is the female that completes this cradle for her progeny, while the 

 male charges himself with the task of bringing the materials, which 

 are ingeniously knit into the consistency of a thick and soft piece 

 of cloth. The whole fabric is attached to two leaves, or a single 

 twig, of the citron or orange-tree. It is soon plenished with two 

 small white eggs, of the size of a pea, which the male and female 

 hatch by turns, for twelve days. After this period, the young 

 make their appearance ; but it is impossible to say with what 

 nourishment their mother supplies them, unless it be with the 

 moisture which they suck from her tongue, while yet humid with 

 the juice of flowers. 



There is no possibility of taming birds so tender. No food 

 could be had by human industry, sufficiently delicate to supply 



