The Food of Birds 163 
the greater part of the year feed upon larve and insects, 
but grapes, figs, and other soft fruits are eagerly devoured. 
They catch locusts and flying ants and occasionally devour 
the young of small birds. When their travels take them 
near the seashore they search the seaweed for snails 
and shrimps, and one of the greatest delicacies is the 
Fig. 125.—Moth and Hummingbird. Both half natural size, 
fruit of the syringa-tree, “on which they sometimes gorge 
themselves until they are no longer capable of flight, . . . 
affected by some narcotic property of the berry itself.” 
This state of semi-intoxication is by no means rare 
among fruit-eating birds, when over-ripe or fermented 
fruit is abundant. 
