272 BESIDE THE GREAT SALT LAKE. 



as one flirts a fan, while the breeze made by 

 her wings agitated the leaves for two feet 

 around her. Should a blossom just ready to 

 fall come off on her beak like a coral case, as 

 it sometimes did, she was indignant indeed ; she 

 jerked herself back and flung it off with an air 

 that was comical to see. 



When the hot wind blew, the little creature 

 seemed to feel the discomfort that bigger ones 

 did : she sat with open beak as though panting 

 for breath ; she flew around with legs hanging, 

 and even alighted on a convenient leaf or cluster 

 of flowers, while she rifled a blossom, standing 

 with sturdy little legs far apart, while stretching 

 up to reach the bloom she desired. 



Two statements of the books were not true in 

 the case of this bird : she did not sit on a twig 

 upright like an owl or a hawk, but held her 

 body exactly as does a robin or sparrow; and 

 she did fly backward and sideways, as well as 

 forward. 



Toward the end of June my tiny visitor be- 

 gan to make longer intervals between her calls, 

 and when she did appear she was always in too 

 great haste to stop ; she passed rapidly over half 

 a dozen blossoms, and then flitted away. Past 

 were the days of loitering about on poplar twigs 

 or preening herself on the peach-tree. It was 

 plain that she had set up a home for herself, 



