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THE RUBY-THROATED HUMMING BIRD. 



Tmochilus CoLUBRjs, Linn. 

 PLATE XLVII. Male, Female, and Young. 



Wherk is the person who, on seeing this lovely little creature mov- 

 ing on humming winglets through the air, suspended as if by magic in 

 it, flitting from one flower to another, with motions as graceful as they 

 are light and airy, pursuing its course over our extensive continent, and 

 yielding new delights wherever it is seen ; — where is the person, I ask 

 of you, kind reader, who, on observing this glittering fragment of the 

 rainbow, would not pause, admire, and instantly turn his mind with re- 

 verence toward the Almighty Creator, the wonders of whose hand we at 

 every step discover, and of whose sublime conceptions we everywhere ob- 

 serve the manifestations in his admirable system of creation ? — There 

 breathes not such a person ; so kindly have we all been blessed with that 

 intuitive and noble feeling- — admiration I 



No sooner has the returning sun again introduced the vernal season, 

 and caused millions of plants to expand their leaves and blossoms to his 

 genial beams, than the little Humming Bird is seen advancing on fairy 

 wings, carefully visiting every opening flower-cup, and, like a curious 

 florist, removing from each the injurious insects that otherwise would ere 

 long cause their beauteous petals to droop and decay. Poised in the air, 

 it is observed peeping cautiously, and with sparkling eye, into their inner- 

 most recesses, whilst the etherial motions of its pinions, so rapid and so 

 light, appear to fan and cool the flower, without injuring its fragile tex- 

 ture, and produce a delightful murmuring sound, well adapted for lulling 

 the insects to repose. Then is the moment for the Humming Bird to 

 secure them. Its long delicate bill enters the cup of the flower, and the 

 protruded double-tubed tongue, dehcately sensible, and imljued with a 

 glutinous saliva, touches each insect in succession, and di-aws it from its 

 lurking place, to be instantly swallowed. All this is done in a moment, 

 and the bird, as it leaves the flower, sips so small a portion of its liquid 

 honey, that the theft, we may suppose, is looked upon with a grateful feei- 

 ng by the flower, which is thus kindly relieved from the attacks of her 

 destroyers. 



The prairies, the fields, the orchards and gardens, nay, the deepest 



