RUBY-THROATED HUMMING BIRD. 249 



shades of the forests, are all visited in their turn, and everywhere the lit- 

 tle bird meets with pleasure and with food. Its gorgeous throat in beauty 

 and brilliancy baffles all competition. Now it glows with a fiery hue, 

 and again it is changed to the deepest velvety black. The upper parts 

 of its delicate body are of resplendent changing green ; and it throws itself 

 through the air with a swiftness and vivacity hardly conceivable. It 

 moves from one flower to another like a gleam of light, upwards, down- 

 wards, to the right, and to the left. In this manner, it searches the ex- 

 treme northern portions of our country, following with . great precaution 

 the advances of the season, and retreats %vith equal care at the approach 

 of autumn. 



I wish it were in my power at this moment to impart to you, kind 

 reader, the pleasures which I have felt whilst watching the movements, 

 and viewing the manifestation of feelings displayed by a single pair of 

 these most favourite little creatures, when engaged in the demonstration 

 of their love to each other : — how the male swells his plumage and 

 throat, and, dancing on the wing, whirls around the delicate female ; how 

 quickly he dives towards a flower, and returns with a loaded bill, which 

 he offers to her to whom alone he feels desirous of being united ; how full 

 of ecstacy he seems to be when his caresses are kindly received ; how his 

 little wings fan her, as they fan the flowers, and he transfers to her bill 

 the insect and the honey which he has procured with a view to please her ; 

 how these attentions are received with apparent satisfaction ; how, soon 

 after, the blissful compact is sealed ; how, then, the courage and care of 

 the male are redoubled ; how he even dares to give chase to the Tyrant 

 Fly-catcher, hurries the blue-Bird and the Martin to their boxes ; and how, 

 on sounding pinions, he joyously returns to the side of his lovely mate; 

 Reader, all these proofs of the sincerity, fidelity, and courage, with which 

 the male assures his mate of the care he will take of her while sittino- on 

 her nest, may be seen, and have been seen, but cannot be portrayed or 

 described. 



Could you, kind reader, cast a momentary glance on the nest of the 

 Humming Bird, and see, as I have seen, the newly-hatched pair of young, 

 little larger than humble-bees, naked, blind, and so feeble as scarcely 

 to be able to raise their little bill to receive food from the parents ; and 

 could you see those parents, full of anxiety and fear, passing and repass- 

 ing within a few inches of your face, alighting on a twig not more than a 

 yard from your body, waiting the result of your unwelcome visit in a 



