72 THE HUMMING-BIRD. 



Huron, that I first beheld them. Beautiful birds 

 were drinking and splashing themselves in the water; 

 and gaudy butterflies, of a very large size, were fan- 

 ning the air with their yellow and black wings. At 

 this moment a little blazing meteor shot like a glow- 

 ing coal of fire across the glen; and I saw for the 

 first time, with admiration and astonishment, what 

 in a moment I recognised, that resplendent living 

 gem, the Humming-bird! buzzing like a Humble- 

 Bee, which it exactly resembled in its flight and 

 sound; like it, it sprang through the air by a series 

 of simultaneous impulses, tracing angle after angle 

 with the velocity of lightning; till poised above its 

 favourite flower, all motion seemed lost in its very 

 intensity, and the humming sound alone certified to 

 the ear, the rapid vibration of its wing, by which it 

 supported its little airy form." 



They vary from the size of a IIumble-Bee to that 

 of a "Willow- Wren ; the nests of the smaller sort 

 appearing more like mossy knots on a branch than 

 the manufacture of a bird, not exceeding an inch in 

 diameter, and formed of the most delicate materials. 

 They will build fearlessly within sight of a window, 

 where they may be leisurely observed. They fre- 

 quently assemble in great numbers round some sorts 

 of flowers, yielding those sweet juices, which, together 

 with insects, compose their food. The aloe is one of 

 them. A gentleman in Jamaica thus describes them 

 hovering round a plot of these plants, covering nearly 

 twenty square yards, of which about a dozen were 

 in full bloom. " The spikes, bearing bunches of 

 flowers, were from twelve to fifteen feet high; on each 

 spike were many hundred blossoms of a bright yellow 



