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not keep them alive more than a few weeks; these 

 ahments, though of easy digestion, are very different 

 from the deHcate nectar collected from the fresh blos- 

 soms. It has been alleged by various naturalists, 

 that during the winter season they remain torpid, 

 suspended by the bill from the bark of a tree, and 

 awakened into life when the flowers begin to blow; 

 but these fictions are rejected ; for Catesby saw them 

 through the year at St. Domingo and Mexico, where 

 nature never entirely loses her bloom. Sloane says 

 the same of Jamaica, only that they are more nume- 

 rous after the rainy season ; and prior to both, Marc-^ 

 grave mentions them as being frequent the whole 

 year in the woods of Brazil. — The method of obtain- 

 ing these minute birds is to shoot them with sand, or 

 by means of the trunk-gun; they will allow one to 

 approach within five or six paces of them. It is easy 

 to lay hold of the little creature while it hums at the 

 blossom. It dies soon after it is caught, and serves 

 to decorate the Indian girls, who. wear two of these 

 charming birds as pendants from their ears. The 

 Indians, indeed, are so struck and dazzled with the 

 brilliancy of their various hues, that they have named 

 them the Btains, or Locks of the Sun. Such is the 

 history of this little being, who flutters from flower 

 to flower, breathes their freshness, wantons on the 

 wings of the cooling zephyrs, sips the nectar of a 

 thousand sweets, and resides in climes where reigns 

 the beauty of eternal spring. 



