1 84 HUMMING BIRD. 



the beginning of November, they pass the southern boundary 

 of the United States into Florida. 



The humming bird is three inches and a half in length, 

 and four and a quarter in extent ; the whole back, upper part 

 of the neck, sides under the wings, tail-coverts, and two 

 middle feathers of the tail, are of a rich golden green ; the 

 tail is forked, and, as well as the wings, of a deep brownish 

 purple ; the bill and eyes are black ; the legs and feet, both 

 of which are extremely small, are also black; the bill is 

 straight, very slender, a little inflated at the tip, and very 

 incompetent to the exploit of penetrating the tough sinewy 

 side of a crow, and precipitating it from the clouds to the 

 earth, as Charlevoix would persuade his readers to believe* 

 The nostrils are two small oblong slits, situated at the base of 

 the upper mandible, scarcely perceivable when the bird is 

 dead, though very distinguishable and prominent when living; 

 the sides of the belly, and belly itself, dusky white, mixed 

 with green ; but what constitutes the chief ornament of this 

 little bird, is the splendour of the feathers of his throat, which, 

 when placed in a proper position, glow with all the brilliancy 

 of the ruby. These feathers are of singular strength and 

 texture, lying close together like scales, and vary, when 

 moved before the eye, from a deep black to a fiery crimson 

 and burning orange. The female is destitute of this orna- 

 ment ; but differs little in other appearance from the male ; 

 her tail is tipt with white, and the whole lower parts are of 

 the same tint. The young birds of the first season, both male 

 and female, have the tail tipt with white, and the whole lower 

 parts nearly white ; in the month of September, the orna- 

 mental feathers on the throat of the young males begin to 

 appear. 



On dissection, the heart was found to be remarkably large, 

 nearly as big as the cranium ; and the stomach, though dis- 

 tended with food, uncommonly small, not exceeding the globe 

 of the eye, and scarcely more than one-sixth part as large as 

 * Histoire de la Nouvelle France, iii. p. 185. 



