220 GOULD S COQUETTE. 



"Look," they said to him; "their heads are 

 the same, and so are their tails." 



The naturalist found it impossible to argue them 

 out of this belief. 



Even an English gentleman once stoutly main- 

 tained that he had seen a Humming-Bird in 

 England. For one species of the hawk-moth is 

 found in our own country ; and you may see it 

 whirling and hovering and darting about in our 

 gardens. The gentleman had seen the moth, and 

 had mistaken it for a Humming-Bird. 



The orange-groves, in those sunny lands where 

 the Humming-Birds live, are covered all the year 

 round with blossom. But at certain seasons their 

 beauty reaches perfection. They are a mass of 

 fruit and blossom. 



Then come the beautiful birds in flocks, spark- 

 ling and shining and glistening in the sun like 

 gold and gems. 



They whirl about the trees, darting so swiftly 

 that you can scarcely see them. When they 

 pause, it is but for a moment. Down goes the 

 bill, and the bird is off again, darting from bios- 



