HUMMING-BIRDS. 



it was attached by the side to an old moss-grown 

 trunk ; and others, where it was fastened on a strong 

 rank stalk, or weed, in the garden. In the woods it 

 often chooses a white oak sapling, and the branch is 

 seldom more than ten feet from the ground. The nest 

 is about an inch in diameter, and as much in depth ; 

 the outward coat is formed of small pieces of a species 

 of bluish-gray lichen, that vegetates on old trees and 

 fences, thickly glued with the saliva of the bird, giving 

 firmness and consistency to the whole, as well as 

 keeping out moisture. Within this are thick, matted 

 layers of the fine wings of certain flying seeds, closely 

 laid together ; and lastly, the downy substance from 

 the great mullein, and from the stalks of the common 

 fern, lines the whole. The base of the nest is con- 

 tinued round the stem of the branch, to which it closely 

 adheres, and when viewed from below, appears a mere 

 mossy knot or accidental protuberance." On the 

 plains, near the Elk River, the nest of this hardy bird 

 was built of the materials that were most appropriate 

 in the country; the downy seeds of an anemone, bound 

 with a few stalks of moss and lichen. 



Lesson describes the nest of Trochilus petta as 

 principally composed of a spongy cellular substance, 

 apparently similar to that of a fungus of which some 

 species of wasps build large habitations, suspended 

 from the branches of trees in the virgin forests of 

 Guiana ; and the same naturalist has given a curious 

 figure of the nest of T. cristata ? composed entirely of 

 the down of some thistle ; the seed is attached, and ia 



