268 THE HUMMING-BIRD. 



splendid scene ; but the interest was doubled by the addi- 

 tion of vast numbers of Humming-birds, fluttering round the 

 openings of the flowers, and dipping their bills first into 

 one floret and then into another, the sun shining bright upon 

 their beautiful plumage, giving them the appearance of, now 

 a ruby, then a topaz, then an emerald, and then all burnished 

 gold.'^ 



Delicate and tender as these little creatures are, seeming 

 as if they could not exist for a moment beyond the confines 

 of a sunbeam, they are nevertheless scattered very extensively 

 over the whole continent of America : they were found in the 

 desolate regions of the south, near Cape Horn, hovering over 

 the fuchsia blossoms at Port Famine, and even flying about 

 in snow-storms. In the north they have been seen in the 

 still more dreary regions of Prince William's Sound, on the 

 same parallel of latitude as the Shetland Islands, to the north 

 of Scotland ; and, what is even more extraordinary, they 

 were discovered on the snowy heights of the Orizaba moun- 

 tains, three times the height of Snowdon above the level of 

 the sea. In all these desolate situations they seemed as 

 lively as when under the influence of burning sunbeams near 

 the equator. It was in one of these latter situations that 

 Mr. Bullock, who visited Mexico with a view to the natural 

 history of a country then scarcely known, saw how ingeniously 

 these little birds contrived to rob the webs of the spiders of 

 that country of the flies that were entangled in them. They 

 would advance beneath the web, and enter the various 

 labyrinths and cells, taking care to make good their retreat 

 if the spider sallied forth to repel them. In ascending some 

 of the spider's fly-traps great skill and care were required ; 

 sometimes the bird had scarcely room for his little wings to 

 spread, and the least mismanagement would have insnared 

 him in the meshes of the web, and insured his destruction. 

 It was only the outworks of the comparatively small spiders, 

 of about his own size, that the Humming-bird durst attack, 

 as the larger sort rushed out in defence of their property, 

 when the robber would shoot off like a sunbeam, and could 

 be only traced, like an electric spark, by the luminous glow 

 of its refulgent colours. 



