CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HUMMINGBIRD 9 



thrusts its long and delicate beak into the heart of the flower 

 and, with the skill of a surgeon probing a wound, extracts the 

 tiny insects or the honey so dear to its palate. 



As the bird poises in mid-air, the sunlight catches the patch 

 of brilliant ruby-red feathers on its throat, and sets it aflame. 

 To make up for their diminutive size, and give them a fair 

 share of beauty. Nature has clothed the throats and breasts of 

 many Hummingbirds with feather-patches of the most bril- 

 liantly iridescent colors, — ruby -red, scarlet, green, blue and gold, 

 — which flash like jewels. Others again have long, ornamental 

 tail-feathers, ruffs and other showy decorations in feathers. 



The Hummingbirds are so very diminutive one never 

 ceases to wonder how such frail and delicate creatures, feeding 

 only upon the smallest insects and the nectar of flowers, can 

 make long journeys over this rough and dangerous earth, 

 withstand storms, build their wonderful little nests, rear 

 their young and migrate southward again without being des- 

 troyed. Of course their diminutive size enables them to es- 

 cape the attention of most of the living enemies which gladly 

 would destroy them. 



The nest of a Hummingbird is about as large in diameter 

 as a lady's watch, and the eggs, of which there are two, are 

 the size of adult peas. The food of these birds generally con- 

 sists of minute insects, many of which they find in large 

 flowers. When at rest, perching, the average Hummer is not 

 beautiful in form. Its head seems too large, its neck and body 

 much too short and its wings too long. It seems top-heavy, 

 and as if destitute of legs. It is on the wing that these crea- 

 tures look their best. 



