C4 



MY HUMMING BIEDS. 



half the flowers they tried, and darting towards us the moment we 

 appeared again Avith the magical white cup. 



Such was the spell it exercised upon them, that when any of 

 our friends, who came visiting us, desired to see them when they 

 were out and perched upon the trees, either of us had only to 

 walk into the yard, and holding up the white cup above our heads, 

 imitate their own chirp to attract their notice, and in an instant 

 one after another would come dipping down from the branches 

 above, and cluster around the brim. After a draught, which was 

 always the first thing, they would sit and plume themselves, stopping 

 every now and then to ask one of the strangers with their steady 

 eyes, so like black diamonds — 



"Who are you, pray? "What '11 you take?" 



Their movements were so like lightning, that though they would 

 let you get your hand near enough for them to peck it, yet it 

 was impossible to catch them. They would let us do it sometimes, 

 but never a stranger. 



JN"ow comes the, to me, most interesting portion of this narrative. 



Our charming little family remained with us on these pleasing 

 terms until the middle of September, and then, as they began to 

 exhibit the usual restlessness of migratory birds, the sad question 

 of parting had to be met. What we had already seen of them 

 convinced me conclusively that there must have been something 

 of romance in the story that had so enchanted me in the respect- 

 able pages of the sage Port-folio, during my fanciful childhood, and 

 which so roundly asserted that the birds had been kept through 

 two winters ! Mow it is barely possible the said conservatory may 

 have had a due supply of spiders, for of one thing I am very sure 

 — that no Humming Bird could have been kept alive without 

 them, any more than gold-fish could be kept alive in distilled water, 

 in which all the animalcule, which constitute their natural food, 

 had been destroyed. We came at last to the conclusion that it 

 would be selfish and abominably cruel of us to keep the delicate 

 things with us in the blustering north, to die of pining for the 

 scented bowers of their far sunny home. We let them out, and 

 with many tears saw them dart away at once towards the south, 

 as if they felt they had already tarried too long. 



We saw them but for an instant on the air, and our sweet pets 

 were gone! 



It took us a long time to reconcile ourselves to the loneliness 

 in which they left us, but our consolation was, that next spring 

 I should find another nest, and they should be Scarlet-throats this 

 time, and we should know better how to take care of them now, 

 as we knew better how to find them from experience. Such a 

 lovely family as we were going to have! We made a new and 



