130 
NORTHERN HUMMING-BIRD. 
system of creation ? There breathes not such a person.” 
It is in these words that the enthusiastic Audubon 
commences the description accompanying his beautiful 
illustration of these hardy little birds, and with the 
answer, they are equally applicable to the whole of 
this numerous family. 
For the natural history of the Carolina or Northern 
Humming-bird, we are principally indebted to the 
observations of Alexander Wilson, and the ornitho- 
logist just now quoted ; and their descriptions, taken 
from reality, being superior to any thing we could 
supply, the greater part of them will be now used. 
We remarked in the Introduction, that the humming- 
birds, with two exceptions, were wanting to the northern 
continent of America, being apparently unable, from 
their delicate structure, to bear the severities of ahardier 
climate, and where the limited supply of the gorgeous 
plants, and their inhabitants, which form so prominent 
a feature in the forests of the southern division, would 
afford a scantier nourishment. Our present species is 
one of the most hardy, and bears a range of tempera- 
ture almost from Tropical heat to the rigour of an 
Arctic latitude, having been lately observed as far 
north as the plains of the Saskachewan, and the banks 
of Elk River. It is only during summer that an ex- 
cursion of such distance is made, and we find their 
arrival, during migration, occurring at different periods, 
in various parts of the Canadas and United States. 
“ About the 25th of April,” we learn from the Ameri- 
can Ornithology, “ the humming-bird usually arrives 
