362 TROPICAL BIRD LIFE IN BOTH HEMISPHERES 



of the air, buzzing like bees round the blossoms less gorgeous 

 than themselves, live entirely on the honey-dew collected 

 within their petals ; for on opening the stomach of the Trochilus 

 dead insects are almost always found there, which its long 

 and slender beak, and cloven extensile tongue, like that of 

 the woodpecker, enable it to catch at the very bottom of the 

 tubular corollas. 



The torrid zone is the chief seat of the humming-birds, but 

 in summer they wander far beyond its bounds, and follow the 

 sun in his annual declensions to the poles. Thus, in the north, 

 /^ they appear as flying visitors on the 



JmJI^ k^ ^i^ borders of the Canadian lakes, and 

 ^m. ^^SK^ ^^ ^^ southern coast of the peninsula 

 ^ dff'^^^^^^^ ^^ Aljaschka; while in the southern 

 '^- ^irf 1 hemisphere they roam as far as Pata- 



gonia, and even as Tierra del Fuego ; 

 visiting in the northern hemisphere 

 the confines of the walrus, and reach- 

 H^^^^ZT^^i. i^g i^ t^e south the regions of the 



penguins and the lion-seal ; advancing 

 towards the higher latitudes with the advance of summer, and 

 again retreating at the approach of autumn. 



The nest of the humming-bird is as elegant and neat as its 

 tiny constructor, a little capsule formed externally of grey lichens 

 so as to avoid notice, and lined internally with the soft down 

 of the cotton tree. In this fragile cradle, suspended from a 

 branch, or leaf, or even a blade of the straw which covers the 

 hut of the Indian, the female lays two white eggs, the size of 

 peas, which are hatched in about twelve days by the alternate 

 incubation of the male and female, producing young no bigger 

 than a common fly, naked, blind, and so weak, as hardly to be 

 able to raise their little bills for the food provided for them by 

 their parents. 



Nothing can exceed the tenderness which the male evinces 

 during breeding time for his lovely companion, nor the courage 

 which he displays for her protection. On the approach of an 

 intrusive bird, though ten times bigger than himself, he will not 

 hesitate a moment to attack the disturber of his nest, his bravery 

 adds a tenfold increase to his powers, the rapidity of his move- 

 ments confounds his enemy, and finally drives him to flight. 



