308 
HUMMING-BIRDS. 
were most feeble. In ascending the angular traps of 
the spider, great care and skill was required ; some- 
times he had scarcely room for his little wings to 
perform their office, and the least deviation would 
have entangled him in the complex machinery of the 
web, and involved him in ruin. It was only the 
works of the smallest spider that he durst attack, as 
the largest rose to the defence of their citadels, when 
the besieger would shoot off like a sunbeam, and could 
only be traced by the luminous glow of his refulgent 
colours. The bird generally spent about ten minutes 
in this predatory excursion, and then alighted on the 
branch of an avocata to rest and refresh himself.” 
In the preceding pages we have endeavoured to 
give a short history of the distribution and economy 
of this interesting family, deriving our information 
from those sources which we judged were most worthy 
of credence, and always, when possible, from observers 
who had seen the birds in their wild state, and un- 
trammeled by any restraint. The examination of 
their structure will have the next claim to our atten- 
tion, with its adaptation to the habits we have already 
attempted to describe. 
When we examine attentively the structure of any 
bird, we soon come to the conclusion that the most 
important parts of its outward form are those organs 
which serve for the means of transporting it from place 
to place. On presenting a humming-bird to the most 
common observer, the first exclamation generally is, 
“ What a beautiful little creature!” The second. 
