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HUMMING BIRD. 
least five weeks sooner than it reaches this part of Penn- 
sylvania. As it passes on to the northward, as far as the 
interior of Canada, where it is seen in great numbers,* the 
wonder is excited how so feebly constructed and delicate a 
little creature can make its way over such extensive regions 
of lakes and forests, among so many enemies, all its superiors 
in strength and magnitude. But its very minuteness, the 
rapidity of its flight, which almost eludes the eye, and that 
admirable instinct, reason, or whatever else it may be called, 
and daring courage, which Heaven has implanted in its 
bosom, are its guides and protectors. In these we may also 
perceive the reason why an all- wise Providence has made 
this little hero an exception to a rule which prevails almost 
universally through nature, viz. that the smallest species of a 
tribe are the most prolific. The Eagle lays one, sometimes 
two, eggs ; the Crow, five ; the Titmouse, seven or eight ; the 
small European Wren, fifteen ; the Humming Bird, two : 
and yet this latter is abundantly more numerous in America 
than the Wren is in Europe. 
About the 25th of April, the Humming Bird usually arrives 
in Pennsylvania : and about the 10th of May begins to build 
its nest. This is generally fixed on the upper side of a hori- 
zontal branch, not among the twigs, but on the body of the 
branch itself. Yet I have known instances where it was 
attached by the side to an old moss-grown trunk; and others 
where it was fastened on a strong rank stalk, or weed, in the 
garden ; but these cases are rare. In the woods, it very often 
chooses a white oak sapling to build on ; and in the orchard 
or garden, selects a pear tree for that purpose. The branch 
is seldom more than ten feet from the ground. The nest 
is about an inch in diameter, and as much in depth. A very 
complete one is now lying before me, and the materials of 
which it is composed are as follows: — The outward coat is 
formed of small pieces of a species of bluish gray lichen that 
* Mr M‘Kenzie speaks of seeing a “ beautiful Humming Bird ” near the 
head of the Unjigah, or Peace River, in lat. 54 deg. ; but has not particularized 
the species. 
