HUMMING-BIRDS. 
99 
But when performing a lengthened flight, as during 
migration, they pass through the air in long undula- 
tions, raising themselves for somo distance, and then 
falling in a curve. When about to feed, or in search 
of a favourite flower, they hover stationary, surveying 
all around, and suddenly dart off' to the object. “ I 
have often stopped,” says Wilson, “ with pleasure, to 
observe their manoeuvres among the blossoms of a 
trumpet-flower. When arrived before a thicket of 
these that are in full bloom, he poises or suspends 
himself on wing, for the space of two or three seconds, 
so steadily, that his wings become invisible, or only 
like a mist.” And Bullock says, “ they remain sus- 
pended in the air in a space barely sufficient for them 
.0 move their wings, and the humming noise proceeds 
entirely from the surprising velocity with which they 
perform that motion, by which they will keep their 
bodies in the air, apparently motionless, for hours to- 
gether.” An older writer, Fermin, a Surinam physi- 
cian, compares this action to the balancing of the bee- 
like flies over foetid waters ; perhaps it may be also 
likened to the motions of a large hawk-moth before 
alighting on a flower. 
“ They seldom alight upon the ground, but perch 
easily on branches. The ruby-throated humming-birds 
settle on twigs and branches, where they move, side- 
wise in prettily measured steps, frequently opening 
and closing their wings, pluming, stroking, and 
arranging the whole of their apparel, with neatness 
and activity. They are particularly fond of spread- 
