THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. 
263 
tectors. In these we may also perceive the reason 
why an all-wise Providence has made this little hero 
an exception to a rule which prevails almost univer- 
sally through nature, — viz., that the smallest species 
of a tribe are most prolific. The eagle lays one, 
sometimes two, eggs ; the crow, five ; the titmouse, 
seven or eight ; the small European wren, fifteen ; 
the humming-bird, two ; and yet this latter is abun- 
dantly more numerous in America than the wren in 
Europe. 
"About the 25th of April, the humming-bird 
usually arrives in Pennsylvania ; and about the 1 0th 
of May begins to build its nest. This is generally 
fixed on the upper side of a horizontal branch, not 
among the twigs, but on the body of the branch it- 
self. Yet I have known instances where it was at- 
tached by the side to an old moss-grown trunk ; and 
others, where it was fastened on a strong rank stalk, 
or weed, in the garden ; but these cases are rare. In 
the woods it very often chooses a white oak sapling 
to build on ; and in the orchard, or garden, selects 
a pear-tree for that purpose. The branch is seldom 
more than ten feet from the ground. The nest is 
about an inch in diameter, and as much in depth. 
