THE HUMMING BIRD. 



Gould's Humming Bird, male and female. 



The Humming Birds are natives of the New World ; 

 and rich as this continent is in the most splendid feathered 

 beings, the brilliancy and grace of these small birds are 

 such as to excite the highest admiration in the spectator, 

 who at once acknowledges their pre-eminence. Recent 

 discoveries have proved that the'r range of habitation is 

 more extended than was once imagined; for though they 

 chiefly abound in South America, many visit the temperate 

 and colder portions of the continent. The Ruby-throated 

 Humming Bird passes north as far as the interior of 

 Canada, migrating like the Swallow. Nor is this the only 

 species which extends into a colder climate. Still, how- 

 ever, the central regions of the continent, and the islands 

 adjacent, are their chief resort. There they people 

 the woods and the gardens, glancing in the sun like 

 meteors as they flit by with inconceivable rapidity, or, 

 suspended on their burnished and quivering wings, explore 

 the nectary of some scented blossom. These birds may 

 be almost said to live upon the win";. There is no bird 

 that equals them in power of flight, 



Ruby-throated Humming Bird. 



Male and female Humming Bird. 



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Group of Humming Uirds. 



(2G6) 



