4 
EEAUTIFUL BIEDS. 
they obtaiued from tlie nectaries of flowers. It has 
been proved tliat they feed upon minute insects, and 
it lias been doubted whether they partake at all of the 
nectar, it being assumed that their bills are not appli- 
cable to such a piu’pose. Many eminent naturabsts 
still adhere to the opinion that, although they do at 
times feed upon insects, yet they likeAvise, and prin- 
cipally, subsist upon the vegetable juice secreted within 
the cahw of the flower. We must, however, take into 
consideration an axiom which few will hesitate to 
admit, namely, that all birds are created to perform 
some office calculated to produce beneficial results in 
the economy of the universe, and that the greater 
number of them, which do not serve as food for man, 
are employed in reducing the excess of animal or 
vegetable life ; we may then perhaps be justified in 
concluding that Humming Birds do feed chiefly upon 
insects, that their labours are not altogether destitute 
of a beneficial end, and, therefore, not solely conducive 
to the gratification of their appetites. 
The wonderful fiicllity with which these little crea- 
tures perform their varied evolutions in the air, and 
the rapidity with which the strokes of the wings are 
made, require some extraordinary development of these 
organs, and the machinery by 
which they are moved. The 
sternum is remarkably w'ell de- 
veloped, like that of the Swift. 
The keel is perhaps deeper, in 
^ proportion to the size of the 
Avhole bone, than in any other 
* « 
bird. It is in general without notches or holes at the 
