NATURAL HISTORY. 235 



gone now it flutters from flower to flower to sip the silver 

 dew it is now a ruby now a topaz now an emerald now 

 all burnished gold." 



It is a singular fact that a common insect called the Hum- 

 ming-bird Moth is formed on precisely the same principle, 

 and flies in just the same manner. This moth is furnished, 

 like the Humming-bird, with rigid sharp wings ; instead of 

 the long slender bill and longer tongue of the Humming-bird, 

 the moth is furnished with an exceedingly long and flexible 

 proboscis, which it uses in the same manner, i. e. in thrusting 

 into the interior of flowers while the creature is hovering 

 above them. The moth also possesses a kind of moveable 

 tail wherewith to direct its course. The description of a 

 Humming-bird hovering over a flower will exactly serve for 

 the moth, save that the moth lacks the brilliant plumage of 

 the bird. Gardens are a great attraction to this moth, and if 

 the observer is very quiet, while looking at a flower, he sud- 

 denly sees an insect apparently suspended over it exploring 

 the flower with its proboscis. It moves from flower to flower, 

 always balancing itself over them by its wings. Let the ob- 

 server move but his hand, and it is gone has vanished as 

 mysteriously as it cama. 



In. the same way, the Humming-bird hovers over flowers, 

 not only to extract the honey and dew, but to search for the 

 little insects that are always to be found in such places. 

 Speaking of the Ruby-throated Humming-bird, Waterton ob- 

 serves : 



" It seems to be an erroneous opinion that the Humming- 

 bird lives entirely on honey-dew. Almost every flower of 

 the tropical climates contains insects of one kind or other ; 

 now, the Humming-bird is most busy about the flowers an 

 hour or two after sunrise, and after a shower of rain, and it 

 is just at this time that the insects come out to the edge of 

 the flower in order that the sun's rays may dry the nocturnal 

 dew and rain which they have received. On opening the 

 stomach of the Humming-bird, dead insects are almost always 

 found there." 



The tongue is formed much like that of the woodpecker, 

 being curled round the head, under the skin, and thus capable 

 of being darted to a considerable distance. 



