HUMMING-BIRD. 49 



blossoms of the tree in which I was. Quite regard- 

 less of my presence, consciously secure in its power 

 01 wing, the lovely little gem hovered around the 

 trunk, and threaded the branches, now probing here, 

 now there, its cloudy wings on each side vibrating 

 with a noise like that of a spinning-wheel, and its 

 emerald breast for a moment flashing brilliantly in 

 the sun's ray ; then apparently black, all the light 

 being absorbed ; then, as it slightly turned, becoming 

 a dark olive ; then in an instant blazing forth again 

 with emerald effulgence. Several times it came close 

 to me, as I sat motionless with delight, and holding 

 my breath for fear of alarming it, and driving it 

 away; it seemed almost worth a voyage across the 

 sea to behold so radiant a creature in all the wild- 

 ness of its native freedom. 



As I now, several years afterwards, here in the 

 suburbs of London, copy these notes for the press, 

 the impressions then produced on my mind as one 

 novelty after another presented itself, — things that 

 I had read of with eager desire to see, that had 

 become encircled with halos of romance in my 

 imagination, — come gushing upon my memory in all 

 their fulness and freshness, like some sweet tune, 

 that one has not heard for years, unexpectedly played. 

 But how shall I transfer these impressions to my 

 readers ? I can name some of the prominent objects 

 that helped to make up the picture, and by some 

 short description, or a few well-selected epithets, 

 may communicate a certain definiteness to those 

 objects; but the picture itself, the thousand things 

 that cannot be enumerated, birds, insects, flowers, 



D 



