HUMMING-BIRD. 
81 
hung in a seemingly torpid state for a whole forenoon. No mo- 
tion whatever of the lungs could be perceived, on the closest in- 
spection, though at other times this is remarkably observable; 
the eyes were shut; and when touched by the finger it gave 
no signs of life or motion, I carried it out to the open air, and 
placed it directly in the rays of the sun, in a sheltered situation. 
In a few seconds respiration became very apparent; the bird 
breathed faster and faster, opened its eyes, and began to look 
about, with as much seeming vivacity as ever. After it had 
completely recovered, 1 restored it to liberty; and it flew off 
to the withered top of a pear tree, where it sat for some time 
dressing its disordered plumage, and then shot off like a me- 
teor. 
The flight of the Humming-bird from flower to flower, greatly 
resembles that of a bee, but is so much more rapid, that the lat- 
ter appears a mere loiterer to him. He poises himself on wing, 
while he thrusts his long slender tubular tongue into the flowers 
in search of food. He sometimes enters a room by the window, 
examines the bouquets of flowers, and passes out by the op- 
posite door or window. He has been known to take refuge in 
a hot-house during the cool nights of autumn; to go regularly 
out in the morning, and to return as regularly in the evening, 
for several days together. 
The Humming-bird has, hitherto, been supposed to subsist al- 
together on the honey, or liquid sweets, which it extracts from 
flowers. One or two curious observers have indeed remarked, 
that they have found evident fragments of insects in the stomach 
of this species; but these have been generally believed to have 
been taken in by accident. The few opportunities which Euro- 
peans have to determine this point by observations made on 
the living bird, or by dissection of the newly-killed one, have 
rendered this mistaken opinion almost general in Europe. For 
myself I can speak decisively on this subject. I have seen the 
Humming-bird for half an hour at a time darting at those little 
groups of insects that dance in the air in a fine summer evening, 
retiring to an adjoining twig to rest, and renewing the attack 
VOL. II. L I 
