298 HISTORY OP 



they subsist. • The rapid motion of their wings brings out a 

 hummitig sound, from whence they have their name ; for what- 

 ever divides the air swiftly, must thus produce a murmur. 



The nests of these birds are not less curious than the rest ; 

 they are suspended in the air, at the point of the twigs of an 

 orange, a pomegranate, or a citron- tree; sometimes even in 

 houses, if they find a small and convenient twig for the pur- 

 pose. The female is the architect, while the male goes in quest 

 of materials ; such as cotton, fine moss, and the fibres of vege- 

 tables. Of these materials a nest is composed, of about the 

 size of a hen's egg cut in two, admirably contrived, and warmly 

 lined with cotton. They lay two eggs at a time, and never more, 

 about the size of small peas, and as white as snow, with here and 

 there a yellow speck. The male and the female sit upon the 

 nest by turns ; but the female takes to herself the greatest share. 

 She seldom quits the nest, except a few minutes in the morning 

 and evening, when the dew is upon the tiowers, and their honey 

 in perfection. During this short interval, the male takes her 



» From the circumstance of liumminj-birds frequenting flowers, and 

 thriistinar tlieir ntcdle-forraed bills iuto the blossoms, as bees and butterflies 

 do their suckers (lianstella), it has hastily been concluded by naturalists, 

 that, like these insects, they feed on honey. But if such naturalists had 

 paused for a moment to consider the form of the bill and the tongue in the 

 trochilidae, their conclusions would not perhaps have been so hasty. Thu 

 .rophi of insects which feed on the honey of flowers, are beautifully adapted 

 for procuring it by suction, which is comraouly indispensable, the honey 

 being iu most cases spread thinly over the surface of the nectary or the un. 

 gulae of the petals, and not in quantities such as it might be drunk like 

 water. Now it is a fact, which is or may be well known, that birds have 

 almost no power of suction, in consequence of the narrowness and rlyidity 

 of their tongue, as may be seen when they drink, having to hold U|> their 

 iieads and depend upon the weight of the water for transmitting it iuto the 

 craw. Nobody, as far as we know, has described the hummiug-bird drink, 

 ing the honey from flowers in this manner, and indeed its tenacity and glu. 

 tinous nature would entirely preclude this. Such reasons would dispose us, 

 therefore, to conclude, that the trochilida; do not feed on honey, though we 

 did not possess irresistible proofs of the fact, that they feed on insects. 



Wilson, the distinguished author of the American Ornithology, found, 

 upon repeated dissection, that the trochilus colubris liad a quantity of in. 

 sects in its stomach, either whole or in fragments ; and the eccentric \Va- 

 terton affirms that humming-birds feed on insects. Of course, they frequent 

 flowers not for their honey, but to prey upon the insects which iire iu j)ur. 

 suit of this honey. Were the requisite scrutiny gone into, it is probable 

 tliiit we should find all Latham's " Flower-eaters" {anthophngi) and Tonu 

 iiiinck's Nectarinise exclusively feeding on insects.— J. llcnnic. 



