MY HUMMING BIRDS. 



BY C. W. WEBBER. 



As a child, I always had a passion for the Humming Bird. 

 It ever caused a thrill of delight when one of these glittering 

 creatures, with its soft hum of flight, came out of repose all 

 suddenly — hanging, a sapphire stilled upon air — for here no wings 

 are seen — as, like a quick, bright thought, it darts, is still, and 

 then away! 



The mystery of "whence it cometh, and whither it goeth," was 

 a lovely and exciting one to me. How and where coxild a thing 

 so delicate live in a wintry world like this? How could the 

 glory of its burnished plumes remain undimmed, that it thus shot 

 forth arrows of light into my eyes, while all other things seemed 

 slowly fading? Where could it renew its splendours. In what 

 far bath of gems dissolved, dipping, come forth mailed in its varied 

 shine? How could those tiny wings, whose soul-like motion no 

 mortal eye can follow, bear the frau sprite through beating tem- 

 pests that are hurling the Albatross, with mighty pinions, prone 

 upon the wave; or that dash the Sea-Eagle, shrieking, against 

 its eyrie-cliff? How speeds it straight and safe — the gem-arrow 

 of the elfs? 



Could it be that the tiny birds lived only on the nectar of 

 flowers? It seemed, surely, the fitting food for beauty so ethereal. 

 But then, it removed them so far from things of the earth, earthy, 

 —their home must surely be fairyland, and they coursers of the 

 wind for iEriel to "put a girdle round the earth," if this be so. 

 But, if there be no fairies, and these be only natural forces that 

 propel it so, is nectar, or ambrosia even, food of the substance 

 that could give the steely toughness to those hair-spring thews, 

 whose sharp stroke cuts a resistless way through hurricanes? 



These, and a thousand such questions, thronged upon me in those 

 innocent times, but my most eager and continued inquiries were — 

 How did they come? Were they born so, all bright and ready; or 

 did they come like other birds? I could find other birds' nests and 

 eggs, and I understood how they came ; but I never could find 

 a Humming Bird's nest. Nor could I find any one else who 

 ever had found one. Many 's the hour I have fruitlessly spent in 

 watching them wherever I could trace their flight about the 

 gardens — for, in my simplicity, I supposed it impossible that they 

 could have their nests anywhere but amidst the flowers— but this, 



