THE HUMMING 



AI ode of catching them. 



manner; they approach the place where the 

 birds are flying, and twirling their rings in the 

 air, so allure them, either by the colour or the 

 sound, that the simple little creature comes to 

 rest upon the ring, and is seized. They are then 

 instantly killed and gutted, and hung up in the 

 chimney to dry. Those who take greater care, 

 dry them in a stove, which is not so likely to in- 

 jure the plumage as the foregoing method. 



" Their beautiful feathers were once the orna- 

 ment of the highest rank of savage nobility; but 

 at present, they take the bird rather for the pur- 

 pose of selling it as a curiosity to the Europeans, 

 than that of ornament for themselves. All the 

 taste for savage finery is wearing out fast, even 

 among the Americans. They now begin to 

 adopt, if not the dresses of Europe, at least the 

 materials of which they are composed. The 

 wanderinsr warrior is far from thinking himself 



O O 



fine at present with his bow and his feathered 

 crown; his ambition reaches to higher orna- 

 ments ; a gun, a blue shirt, and a blanket." 



Ferdinandez Oviedo, an author of great repute, 

 speaks, from his own knowledge, of the spirited 

 instinct even of these diminutive birds in defence 

 of their young: " When they observe any one 

 climbing the tree in which they have their nests, 

 they attack him in the face, Attempting to strike 

 him in the eyes, and coming, going, and return- 

 ing, with such swiftness, that a man would 

 scarcely credit it who had not seen it himself." 



