THE HUMMING BIRDS. 3(J9 



generally one which hangs from the end of a slender twig, the 

 little artist pierces a row of holes along each edge, using his 

 beak as a shoemaker uses his awl. When the holes are com-, 

 pleted the feathered tailor next selects his thread, which is a 

 long fibre of some plant, and passing it through the holes, 

 draws the sides of the leaf towards each other, so as to form a 

 kind of hollow cone, the point downwards. Generally a single 

 leaf answers the purpose, but whenever the bird cannot find 

 one sufficiently long, it sews two together, or even fetches 

 another leaf and fastens it with the fibre. The interior of the 

 liollow is then lined with a quantity of soft white down, and 

 thus a warm, light, and elegant nest is constructed, scarcely 

 visible among the foliage, and safe from the attacks of almost 

 every foe but man. Who, on witnessing these miracles of 

 instinct, would not exclaim with the poet : 



Behold a bird's nest ! 



Mark it well, Avithin, without!' 



No tool had he that wrougHfc, no knife to cut ; 



No nail to fix, no bodkin to insert, 



No glue to join : his little beak was all • 



And yet how neatlj finish'd T What nice hand, 



With every implement and means of art, 



Could compass such anotlier ? 



The Honey Eaters of Australia and the neighbouring 

 archipelagoes, where they seem to occupy the position which is 

 taken in America by the humming birds, and by the sun birds 

 of Asia and South Africa, have- thus been named from their 

 feeding largely on the sweet j aices of many flowers, although 

 the staple of their diet consists of insects. Some are splendidly 

 decorated, others captivate the ear by their melodious song. 

 They are most lively and interesting birds, affording an endless 

 fund of amusement to the careful observer. Never still, they 

 traverse the branches of the trees with astonishing celerity, 

 skipping from one to another, and probing every crevice with 

 their needle-like tongue. Like the humming birds they dis- 

 play great ingenuity in the building of their nests which the 

 Singing and Painted Honey Eaters (^Ptilotus sonorus ; Entoino- 

 phila picta) suspend from the long and slender branches of 

 the pendulous Acacia, while tlie Lanceolate Honey Eater, thus 

 named on account of the shape of its featliers, sling's its 

 hammock just as a seaman slings bis oscillating couch. 



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