266 



THE HUMMING-BIRD. 



in the blues and greens of its beautiful plumage, is also 

 much more common. Most of our readers may probably 

 have seen it darting in the direction of a brook-course, like 

 a flying emerald. We were once fortunate enough to watch 

 one, within a few yards, for some time. It was on a calm 

 ^ r sunny day ; the bird 



' *^L^$c^\ was observed to settle 



on the post of a rail, 

 projecting into a 

 piece of water : a 

 boat was gently im- 

 pelled towards it, in 

 perfect silence ; it 

 seemed to take no 

 notice, sitting mo- 

 tionless, as if it had 

 been stuffed and 

 placed there for or- 

 nament. In an in- 

 The Kingfisher. stant ft parted off, 



with so rapid a motion, that a green bright line from the 

 post to a splash of water where it had plunged, alone marked 

 its course. In another instant it rose, and with as rapid a 

 flight resumed its position on the post, having swallowed the 

 little fish whose bright scales we could just see glistening in 

 the sun, as the bird emerged from the water. There it 

 rested motionless as before, till another plunge denoted the 

 capture of another fish ; and so on, till, after having captured 

 four or five, it darted away, and was" seen no more. Its nest 

 is in great part composed of fish-bones, which it throws up 

 in pellets, similar to those cast up by Owls, of which we have 

 already spoken. 



The Humming-birds are the last of this tribe we shall 

 notice, lamenting that none but those who cross the seas, 

 and can visit them in their native haunts, will ever be 

 fortunate enough to behold the glorious robes with which 

 nature can invest even the smallest of her works. Truly 

 may it be said of these lovely birds, as of the lilies of the 



