Ijaiitnimg girlrs. 
TEOCniLIDiE. 
The known species of the numerous family of the 
brilliant little birds called Humming Birds amount to 
several hundreds, and, as their native localities are not 
easily explored, tlie unknown species are probably 
equal in number. They are the smallest of the 
feathered tribes. They are also the most beautiful, 
as to the texture and colour of their plumage ; the 
most active and graceful ; and, taken altogether, the 
most interesting and curious of the fowls of the aiL\ 
They are principally, if not exclusively, natives of the 
American continent, here they actually swarm in 
the warmer and more fertile districts. They are not 
however, entirely confined to the tropical portion of 
the country, but are found in high northern latitudes, 
where the climate is not only temperate but cold ; and 
when Captain King was surveying the coast of the 
extreme south of America, he found large flocks of 
Humming Birds flying about in the middle of a snow- 
storm, apparently unaflected by it. 
Humming Birds ( TrocliilidcG) are ever on the wing 
in search of those minute insects which seek conceal- 
ment as well as food within the flowers which bloom 
so luxuriantly in the warmer regions of America^ 
The central forests of that country,” remarks an 
