68 



MT HUMMING BIEDS. 



by accident, but by science and perseverance. I was proud of it, 

 and so was she. At the proper time I brought the young birds 

 home in triumph. There were only two, though, as in the other 

 instance, there had been three eggs. This curious fact is common 

 to several families of birds, and seems to be a provision against 

 accident, though I believe the third egg is seldom permitted to hatch. 



We had now two families which seemed to get along together 

 very amicably. The male of the Ruby-throats was easily distin- 

 guishable by the dart feathers on the throat, which marked the 

 place where, on his next moulting, that breast-plate of glittering 

 mail should appear, blazing like a talisman of carbuncle. We were 

 greatly distressed that we should have to run all the risks of their 

 problematic return in the following spring before we should be 

 enabled to solace our eyes in the enjoyment of this coveted treasure. 



We now frequently captured old birds in the library, and never 

 failed in taming them entirely in a few days. At one time our 

 family consisted of six, and we had but to walk out with the white 

 cup, and sound the gathering chirp, and one after another the whole 

 of them came skimming down from the trees in all directions, to 

 alight upon its rim, or upon us if they were not hungry. 



The novelty of such pets attracted great attention; and we had 

 many visitors; and the fair young girls plead hard with me to give 

 them one — but I could never consent to trust my delicate people in 

 unaccustomed hands, except in a single instance, in which the fair 

 pleader bewitched me with eyes so like those of the bird, that I gave 

 her one of the old ones, and heard to my sorrow that it died in 

 a week. 



Our lovely family broke up with the autumn. One after one, 

 they disappeared suddenly, and we were left alone — alas, this time 

 for ever — none of them ever came back! 



Have we been describing creatures of blind and fated impulse — 

 machines without volition, propelled, like any other arrangement of 

 springs and wdieels, by elemental forces, on through a certain and 

 fixed round of action, over which they have no control, — or have we 

 told the history of beings possessing memory in common with man 

 • — gratitude, w hether in common with him or not — faith, affection, 

 bravery — a small touch of the loafer, as witness in their affection for 

 the white cup, with its brimming bowl, in preference to the meagre 

 and bee-rifted chalices of flowers — a remarkable degree of caution 

 in hiding their nests — of cunning in going to and from them — of 

 mechanical and artistic skill in constructing their w r onderful homes 

 — of judgment in placing them over the water— of sagacity in using 

 their acute senses to guide them back and forth on their two long 

 yearly pilgrimages? These are questions the learned will have to 

 meet one day! 



