18 
RURAL HOURS. 
season, it may be doubted if they feed on these gaudy blossoms. 
On first reading the passage, this association struck us as one with 
which we were not familiar; had it been the trumpet-flower, 
nothing would have been more natural, for these dainty birds are 
forever fluttering about the noble scarlet blossoms of that plant, 
as we all know, but the tulip did not seem quite in place in this 
connection. Anxious to know whether we had deceived our- 
selves, we have now watched the humming-birds for several sea- 
sons, and, as yet, have never seen one in a tuhp, while we have 
often obseiwed them pass these for other flowers. Possibly this 
may have been accidental, or other varieties of the humming-bird 
may have a difierent taste from our own, and one cannot posi- 
tively assert that this little creature never feeds on the tulip, with- 
out more general examination. But there is something in the 
upright position of that flower which, added to its size, leads one 
to believe that it must be an inconvenient blossom for the hum- 
ming-bird, who generally seems to prefer nodding or drooping 
flowers, if they are at all large, always feeding on the wing as he 
does, and never alighting, like butterflies and bees, on the petals. 
Altogether, we are inclined to believe that if the distinguished 
author of Proverbial Philosophy had been intimate with our little 
neighbor, he would have placed him in some other native plant, 
and not in the Asiatic tulip, to which he seems rather indifferent. 
The point is a very trifling one, no doubt, and it is extremely bold 
to find fault with our betters ; but in the first place, we are busy- 
ing ourselves wholly with trifles just now, and then the great 
work in question has been a source of so much pleasure and ad- 
vantage to half the world, that no one heeds the misplaced tulip, 
unless it be some rustic bird-fancier. By supposing the flower 
