108 HUMMING-BIRDS. 



were most feeble. In ascending the angular traps o! 

 the spider, great care and skill was required ; some- 

 times he had scarcely room for his little wings to 

 perform their office, and the least deviation would 

 have entangled him in the complex machinery of the 

 web, and involved him in ruin. It was only the 

 works of the smallest spider that he durst attack, as 

 the largest rose to the defence of their citadels, when 

 the besieger would shoot off like a sunbeam, and could 

 only be traced by the luminous glow of his refulgent 

 colours. The bird generally spent about ten minutes 

 in this predatory excursion, and then alighted on the 

 branch of an avocata to rest and refresh himself." 



In the preceding pages we have endeavoured to 

 give a short history of the distribution and economy 

 of this interesting family, deriving our information 

 from those sources which we judged were most worthy 

 of credence, and always, when possible, from observers 

 who had seen the birds in their wild state, and un- 

 trammeled by any restraint. The examination of 

 their structure will have the next claim to our atten- 

 tion, with its adaptation to the habits we have already 

 attempted to describe. 



When we examine attentively the structure of any 

 bird, we soon come to the conclusion that the most 

 important parts of its outward form are those organs 

 which serve for the means of transporting it from place 

 to place. On presenting a humming-bird to the most 

 common observer, the first exclamation generally is, 

 " What a beautiful little creature ! " The second. 



