THE HUMMING-BIRD. 267 



field, "that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like 

 one of these." 



"Never was I more excited to wonder than by one of 

 these little creatures," says a traveller,* "so much more 

 resembling a splendid shining insect than a bird. It was on 

 a fine day, at the commencement of an American summer, 

 on the banks of Lake Huron, that I first beheld them. 

 Beautiful birds were drinking and splashing themselves in 

 the water ; and gaudy butterflies, of a very large size, were 

 fanning the air with their yellow and black wings. At this 

 moment a little blazing meteor shot, like a glowing coal of 

 fire, across the glen; and I saw for the first time, with admi- 

 ration and astonishment, what in a moment I recognised, 

 that resplendent living gem, the Humming-bird! buzzing 

 like a humble-bee, which it exactly resembled in its flight 

 and sound : like it, it sprang through the air by a series of 

 simultaneous impulses, tracing angle after angle with the 

 velocity of lightning ; till, poised above its favourite flower, 

 all motion seemed lost in its very intensity, and the humming 

 sound alone certified to the ear the rapid vibration of its 

 wing, by which it supported its little airy form." 



They vary from the size of a humble-bee to that of a 

 Willow- Wren ; the nests of the smaller sort appearing more 

 like mossy knots on a branch, than the manufacture of a 

 bird, not exceeding an inch in diameter, and formed of the 

 most delicate materials. They will build fearlessly within 

 sight of a window, where they may be leisurely observed. 

 They frequently assemble in great numbers round some sorts 

 of flowers, yielding those sweet juices which, together with 

 insects, compose their food. The aloe is one of them. A 

 gentleman in Jamaica thus describes them hovering round a 

 plot of these plants covering nearly twenty square yards, of 

 which about a dozen were in full bloom. " The spikes, 

 bearing bunches of flowers, were from twelve to fifteen feet 

 high; on each spike were many hundred blossoms, of a 

 bright yellow colour, each of a tubular shape, and containing 

 its drop of honey. These alone afforded," as he says, " a 



* CAPTAIN HEAD'S Forest Scenes. 



