THE HUMMING-BIRDS. 



THEY are the fairy-folk of the bird world. Beside 

 them all other brightly-clad fliers look overdressed, 

 clumsy in build, and heavy in movement. 



It is only fair to the others to consider these wonderful 

 jewelled beings as a race apart, a little people who must be 

 judged and admired by themselves. And, indeed, they are 

 numerous enough to be regarded so, while their variety of 

 colour and adornment is positively bewildering. Fifty years 

 ago a reliable Natural History writer gave the number of 

 kinds discovered as " more than three hundred " ; to-day 

 some five hundred are known and named. 



Almost all of them are tiny, though, to be sure, one 

 prodigious member of the clan is a trifle over nine inches 

 long ' But he is such an exception that he is frankly 

 named the Giant Humming-Bird. The average length is 

 nearer four inches, and one wee creature is scarcely bigger 

 in body than a humble bee, and measures only two and a 

 half inches long. 



The Humming-Bird family belongs to America, and is 

 not found outside the New World. For they must not be 

 confused with the little sunbirds, which live among the 

 trees of Africa and Southern Asia and Australia, and 

 which are very similar in appearance and ways of living. 



But if the Humming- Birds are confined to the New 

 World, they certainly take care to spread themselves over 

 as much of it as they can. For, although if you want to 

 see them in largest numbers you must go to the hot forest 



178 



