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allowed tlie most beautiful of all others. In quadrupeds, the 

 smallest animals are noxious, ugly, and loathsome ; the smallest 

 of birds arc the most beautiful, innocent, and sportive. Of all 

 tliose that flutter in the garden, or paint the landscape, the 

 humming-bird is the most delightful to look upon, and the most 

 inoffensive. 



Of this charming little animal there are six or seven varieties, 

 from the size of a small wren dovirn to that of an humble-bee. 

 A European could never have supposed a bird existing so very 

 small, and yet completely furnished out with a bill, feathers, 

 wings, and intestines, exactly resembling those of the largest 

 kind. A bird not so big as the end of one's little finger would 

 probably be supposed but a creature of imagination, were it not 

 seen in infinite nmnbers, and as frequent as butterflies in a sum- 

 mer's day, sporting in the fields of America, from flower to 

 flower, and extracting their sweets with its little bill. 



The smallest humming-bird is about the size of a hazel-nut. 

 The feathers on its wings and tail are black j but those on its 

 body, and under its wings, are of a greenish brown, with a fine 

 red cast, or gloss, which no silk or velvet can imitate. It has a 

 small crest on its head, green at the bottom, and, as it were, gilded 

 at the top ; and which sparkles in the sun like a little star in the 

 middle of its forehead. The bill is black, straight, slender, and 

 of the length of a small pin. The larger humming-bird is near 

 half as big as the common wren, and without a crest on its 

 head ; but, to make amends, it is covered, from the throat halt 

 way down the belly, with changeable crimson-coloured feathers, 

 that, in different lights, change to a variety of beautiful colours, 

 nuich like an opal. The heads of both are small, with very little 

 round eyes, as black as jet. 



It is inconceivable how much these add to the high finishing 

 and beauty of a rich luxurious western landscape. As soon as 

 the sun is risen, the humming-birds, of different kinds, are seen 

 fluttering about the flowers, without ever lighting upon them . 

 Their wings are in such rapid motion, that it is impossible 

 to discern their colours, except by their glittering. They are 

 never still but continually in motion, visiting flower after flower, 

 and extracting its honey as if with a kiss. For this purpose 

 they are furnished with a forky tongue, that enters the cup of 

 the flowers, and extracts its nectared tribute. Upon this alone 



