130 NORTHERN HUMMING-BIRD. 



system of creation ? There breathes not such a person." 

 It is in these words that the enthusiastic Audubon 

 commences the description accompanying his beautiful 

 illustration of these hardy little birds, and with the 

 answer, they are equally applicable to the whole of 

 this numerous family. 



For the natural history of the Carolina or Northern 

 Humming-bird, we are principally indebted to the 

 observations of Alexander Wilson, and the ornitho- 

 logist just now quoted ; and their descriptions, taken 

 from reality, being superior to any thing we could 

 supply, the greater part of them will be no\\ used. 

 We remarked in the Introduction, that the humming- 

 birds, with two exceptions, were wanting to the northern 

 continent of America, being apparently unable, fiom 

 their delicate structure, to bear the severities of a hardier 

 climate, and where the limited supply of the gorgeous 

 plants, and their inhabitants, which form so prominent 

 a feature in the forests of the southern division, would 

 afford a scantier nourishment. Our present species is 

 one of the most hardy, and bears a range of tempera- 

 ture almost from Tropical heat to the rigour of an 

 Arctic latitude, having been lately observed as far 

 north as the plains of the Saskachewan, and the banks 

 of Elk River. It is only during summer that an ex- 

 cursion of such distance is made, and we find their 

 arrival, during migration, occurring at different periods, 

 in various parts of the Canadas and United States. 

 " About the 25th of April," we learn from the Ameri- 

 can Ornithology, " the humming-bird usually arrives 



