212 THE HUMMING-BIRD OF NOOTKA SOUND. 



to flower, or poising over them with the habit 

 peculiar to their race. 



As he approached a bush, out darted a radiant 

 creature, like a flame of fire, and passed close by 

 him, as though it would attack his face, returning 

 again and again to the charge, and whirling about 

 in the utmost fury. 



This was the male bird, on the watch to drive 

 away any intruder from the nost. The angry, 

 hissing noise it made, was like that of a ball as it 

 whizzes through the air. 



A few days after, Captain Cook found the nest 

 on the forked branch of a bramble. The mother- 

 bird was sitting on her eggs. She flew out, and 

 hovered near him while he examined the nest. 

 But when he went away, she took her place again, 

 and continued to sit on her eggs as before. The 

 nest was as tiny and light as possible. It was 

 made of lichen and moss, and a few feathers woven 

 together with the slender rootlets of plants, and 

 was lined with thistle-down. 



The plumage of the bird is soft and beautifully 

 blended, and glossed like velvet. The upper parts 



