A YOUNG NATURALIST. 



377 



" Yes, Master Sunbeam ; but it was a humming-bird, not 

 an insect." 



« A humming-bird !" cried the boy, at once unfolding his 

 butterfly net. 



And off he went in pursuit of the fugitive. The agile 

 bird made a thousand turns, and always kept out of reach 

 of the young sportsman, who at last stopped suddenly in 

 front of a shrub. When I joined him, he was contempla- 

 ting three little nests, fixed in forked branches, and covered 

 outside with green and yellow lichens. 



" There's the bird !" said Lucien, in a low voice. 



I lifted up the little naturalist ; two hen-birds flew off, 

 and at the bottom of each nest he could see a couple of eggs 

 of a greenish color, and about the size of a pea. 



" If you hold me a little closer, papa, I can take the eggs." 



" What would be the good, my boy ? Look at them as 

 long as you like, but don't deprive the little birds of what 

 is most dear to them." 



" There's one bird which has not moved," observed Lu- 

 cien. 



" Then, no doubt, its little ones are hatched." 



" The whole of its body seems to glitter ; it looks as if it 

 was blue, green, and gold color. It sees me, and is moving. 

 Now it is perched upon the tree ! Only look, papa ! there 

 are two young ones in the bottom of the nest." 



I put Lucien down on the ground, so that he might go to 

 l'Encuerado, who was calling him. The Indian had found 

 a humming-bird's nest fixed on a branch, which he had cut 

 off and was bringing us. The elegant little structure was 

 a perfect marvel of architectural skill, lined inside with the 

 silky down of some plant. Two young birds, still unfledged, 

 and scarcely as big as nuts, opened their beaks as if to ask 

 for food. I directed l'Encuerado to replace the branch on 

 the tree from whence he had cut it, and to fasten it so that 



