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37 



delightful murmuring sound, well adapted for lulling the insects 

 to repose. Then is the moment for the Humming Bird to 

 secure them. Its long delicate bill enters the cup of the flower, 

 and the protruded double-tubed tongue, delicately sensible, and 

 imbued with a glutinous saliva, touches each insect in succession, 

 and draws it from its lurking-place to be instantly swallowed. 



The prairies, the fields, the orchards and gardens, nay, the 

 deepest shades of the forest are all visited in their turn, and 

 everywhere the little bird meets with pleasure and with food. 

 Its gorgeous throat, in beauty and brilliancy, baffles all com- 

 petition; now it glares with a fiery hue, and again it is changed 

 to the deepest velvety black. The upper parts of its delicate 

 body are of resplendent changing green, and it throws itself 

 through the air with a swiftness and a vivacity hardly con- 

 ceivable. It moves from one flower to another like a gleam 

 of light — upwards, downwards, to the right, and to the left. 

 In this manner it searches the extreme northern portions of 

 our country, following with great precaution the advances of 

 the season, and retreating with equal care at the approach of 

 autumn. 



Where is the person who, on seeing this lovely little creature 

 moving on humming winglets through the air, suspended, as 

 by magic, on it; flitting from one flower to another, with mo- 

 tions as graceful as they are light and airy; pursuing its course 

 over our extensive continent, and yielding new delights wher- 

 ever it is seen; where is the person, I ask, who, on observing 

 this glittering fragment of the rainbow, would, not pause, 

 admire, and instantly turn his mind with reverence towards 

 the Almighty Creator, the wonders of whose hand we at every 

 step discover, and of whose sublime conceptions we everywhere 

 observe the manifestations in His admirable system of creation?" 



This is a teacher of the right sort, and we would gladly 

 hear more of what he has to say about our little Euby- throat; 

 but we must now turn to Wilson's description, which is more 

 full and connected, and better adapted to the instructive 

 purpose of this book. After speaking of the hardihood of the 

 present species, and stating that "it bears a range of tempera- 

 ture almost from tropical heat to the rigour of an arctic 

 latitude;" and mentioning the different dates of its arrival in 

 several parts of North America, he tells us "that it usually 



