NORTHERN HUMMING-BIRD. 133 



swallowed them with eagerness, so that these insects 

 formed no inconsiderable part of their food." And 

 in the summer of 1 803, Wilson himself succeeded in 

 raising and keeping some young ones for nearly three 

 months, and might have extended the period, had 

 they not been injured by flying about the room. He 

 thus relates the circumstance : " In the summer of 

 1 803, a nest of young humming-birds was brought 

 me, that we*e nearly fit to fly. One of them actually 

 flew out by the window the same evening and falling 

 against a wall, was killed. The other refused food, and 

 the next morning I could but just perceive that it had 

 life. A lady of the house undertook to be its nurse, 

 placed it in her bosom, and as it began to revive, dis- 

 solved a little sugar in- her mouth, into which she 

 thrust its bill, and it sucked with great avidity, and 

 in this manner it was brought up until fit for the cage. 

 I kept it upwards of three months, supplied it with 

 loaf-sugar dissolved in water, which it preferred to 

 honey and water, gave it fresh flowers every morning 

 sprinkled with the liquid, and surrounded the space in 

 which I kept it with gauze, that it might not injure 

 itself. It appeared gay, active, and full of spirit, 

 hovering from flower to flower, as if in its native wilds, 

 and always expressed, by its motions and chirping, 

 great pleasure at seeing fresh flowers introduced into 

 its cage. 



" This little bird is extremely susceptible of cold, 

 and if long deprived of the animating influence of the, 



