HUMMING-BIRDS. |Q5 



perseverance, of ever bringing them to this country. 

 Bullock said that he had nearly seventy in cages, 

 that no bird was more easily reconciled to its new 

 situation, and that by attention they might easily have 

 been brought to Europe. We learn also from Azara, 

 Wilson, and other sources, that they have been fre- 

 quently kept in their native countries for several 

 months on sugar or honey and water, assisted by the 

 insects which were attracted by and drowned in the 

 sweets ; and Charles Peale, proprietor of the Phila- 

 delphia Museum, reared two from the nest, which be- 

 came so tame as to perch on Mrs Peale's shoulder. 



The only instance of their being carried to a differ- 

 ent climate is thus related by Latham ; and there can 

 e little doubt, from the partial success of these at- 

 tempts, that great care and greater experience, with 

 a more perfect knowledge of their proper food, would 

 enable them to reach this country, and perhaps adorn 

 a separate apartment in some conservatory. The 

 European summer birds of passage have been now 

 successfully kept in confinement for several years, and 

 an attempt upon similar principles might prosper. 



It was a mango humming-bird ( T. mango) which 

 was successfully brought to England, " A young 

 i gentleman, a few days before he sailed from Jamaica 

 for England, met with a female humming-bird sitting 

 on the nest and eggs, and cutting off the twig, he 

 brought altogether on board. The bird became suffi- 

 ciently tame to suffer herself to be fed on honey and 



