HUMMING-BIKDS. 



469 



are totally unlike those of other birds. So quickly do they 

 dart backwards and forwards, that the eye can hardly follow 

 them. Even when poising themselves before a flower, with 

 such inconceivable rapidity do their wings move, that even 

 then their bright colours are scarcely perceptible; and anon 

 they shoot off to sip the nectar 

 from another cup. Unlike the 

 systematic way in which bees 

 proceed, they seem to delight 

 in darting, now in one direc- 

 tion, now in the other ; now 

 for a moment they perch on 

 a spray, probing, as they sit, 

 the flowers nearest to them ; 

 then again they fly off, in their 

 eccentric course, to another 

 spot. 



" Wherever a creeping vine 

 opens its fragrant cluster, or 

 wherever a flower blooms, 

 may these little things be 

 seen," writes Edwards, in his 

 usual graphic way ; "in the 

 garden, or in the woods, over 

 the water, everywhere, they 

 are darting about, of all sizes, TUFTED COQUETTE AND NEST - 



from one that might easily be mistaken for a different variety 

 of bird, to the tiny hermit T. Rufigaster, whose body is 

 not half the size of the bee's buzzing about. Sometimes 

 they are seen chasing each other, in sport, with a rapidity 

 of flight and intricacy of path the eye is puzzled to follow. 



