92 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 
lichen, so neatly arranged on the branches of 
the trees, as to seem a portion of the stem to 
which it is fixed. The next coating is of a cot- 
ton substance, and the innermost of the silky 
pods of various plants, extremely soft and com- 
fortable. No sooner are the young able to pro- 
vide for themselves, than they associate with 
other broods, and perform their migrations apart 
from the old birds. Enterprising as travellers, 
they are possessed of singular hardihood, as well 
as marvellous beauty, visiting dreary and inclem- 
ent regions, such as Patagonia and Canada, 
Twenty or thirty young ones may be seen sport-« 
ing amidst a group of-flowers, and not a single 
old one to be found. They receive a portion of 
sustenance from most plants, but are especially 
fond of the sweet trumpet flower and honey- 
suckle. They sip the nectar, in order to allay 
their thirst, making their meals of more substan- 
tial nourishment. As the humming bird does 
not shun mankind like the more timid of the 
feathered tribes, it is often imprisoned and sup- 
plied with artificial flowers, in the corollas of 
which honey, with water, or dissolved sugar is 
placed. On this diet, however, it seldom lives 
many months, owing probably to the absence of 
its general food—the minute insects found in or 
among living flowers, 
Rivalling these in splendour are the cinnyris or 
