262 THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. 
are natives of America, and its adjacent islands, it 
is yet singular that the species now before us should 
be the only one of its tribe that ever visits the terri- 
tory of the United States. 
" According to the observations of my friend, Mr. 
Abbot, of Savannah, in Georgia, (who has been en- 
gaged these thirty years in collecting and drawing 
subjects of natural history in that part of the coun- 
try,) the humming bird makes its first appearance 
there, from the south, about the 23rd of March, 
two weeks earlier than it does in the county of Burke, 
sixty miles higher up the country, towards the interior ; 
and at least five weeks sooner than it reaches this 
part of Pennsylvania. As it passes on to the north- 
ward as far as the interior of Canada, where it is 
seen in great numbers, the wonder is excited, how so 
feebly constructed and delicate a little creature can 
make its way over such extensive regions of lakes 
and forests, among so many enemies, all its superiors 
in strength and magnitude. But its very minuteness, 
the rapidity of its flight, which almost eludes the eye, 
and that admirable instinct, reason, or whatever else 
it may be called, and daring courage, which Heaven 
has implanted in its bosom, are its guides and pro- 
