HUMMING BIRD. jyg 



from below, appears a mere mossy knot or accidental protu- 

 berance. The eggs are two, pure white, and of equal thickness 

 at both ends. The nest and eggs in the plate were copied with 

 great precision, and by actual measurement, from one just 

 taken in from the woods. On a person's approaching their 

 nest, the little proprietors dart around with a humming sound, 

 passing frequently within a few inches of one's head ; and, 

 should the young be newly hatched, the female will resume 

 her place on the nest even while you stand within a yard or 

 two of the spot. The precise period of incubation I am unable 

 to give ; but the young are in the habit, a short time before 

 they leave the nest, of thrusting their bills into the mouths of 

 their parents, and sucking what they have brought them. I 

 never could perceive that they carried them any animal food; 

 though, from circumstances that will presently be mentioned, 

 I think it highly probable they do. As I have found their 

 nests with eggs so late as the 12th of July, I do not doubt but 

 that they frequently, and perhaps usually, raise two broods in 

 the same season. 



The humming bird is extremely fond of tubular flowers, and 

 I have often stopped, with pleasure, to observe his manoeuvres 

 among the blossoms of the trumpet flower. When arrived 

 before a thicket of these that are full blown, he poises, or 

 suspends himself on wing, for the space of two or three seconds, 

 so steadily, that his wings become invisible, or only like a mist, 

 and you can plainly distinguish the pupil of his eye looking 

 round with great quickness and circumspection; the glossy 

 golden green of his back, and the fire of his throat, dazzling 

 in the sun, form altogether a most interesting appearance. 

 The position into which his body is usually thrown while in 

 the act of thrusting his slender tubular tongue into the flower 

 to extract its sweets, is exhibited in the figure on the plate. 

 When he alights, which is frequently, he always prefers the 

 small dead twigs of a tree or bush, where he dresses and 

 arranges his plumage with great dexterity. His only note is 

 a single chirp, not louder than that of a small cricket or grass- 



