HUMMING-BIRDS. 99 



But when performing a lengthened flight, as during 

 migration, they pass through the air in long undula- 

 tions, raising themselves for some distance, and then 

 falling in a curve. When about to feed, or in search 

 of a favourite flower, they hover stationary, surveying 

 all around, and suddenly dart off to the object. " I 

 have often stopped," says Wilson, " with pleasure, to 

 observe then* manoeuvres among the blossoms of a 

 trumpet-flower. When arrived before a thicket of 

 these that are in full bloom, he poises or suspends 

 himself on wing, for the space of two or three seconds, 

 so steadily, that his wings become invisible, or only 

 like a mist." And Bullock says, " they remain sus- 

 pended in the air in a space barely sufficient for them 

 io move their wings, and the humming noise proceeds 

 entirely from the surprising velocity with which they 

 perform that motion, by which they will keep their 

 bodies in the air, apparently motionless, for hours to- 

 gether." An older writer, Fermin, a Surinam physi- 

 cian, compares this action to the balancing of the bee- 

 like flies over foetid waters ; perhaps it may be also 

 likened to the motions of a large hawk-moth before 

 alighting on a flower. 



" They seldom alight upon the ground, but perch 

 easily on branches. The ruby-throated humming-birds 

 settle on twigs and branches, where they move, side- 

 wise in prettily measured steps, frequently opening 

 and closing their wings, pluming, stroking, and 

 arranging the whole of their apparel, with neatness 

 and activity. They are particularly fond of spread- 



