266 
THE HUMMING-BIRD. 
in the bines and greens of its beautiful plumage, is also 
much more common. Most of our readers may probably 
have seen it darting in the direction of a brook-course, like 
a flying emerald. We were once fortunate enough to watch 
one, within a few yards, for some time. It was on a calm 
sunny day ; the bird 
was observed to settle 
on the post of a rail, 
projecting into a 
piece of water : a 
boat was gently im- 
pelled towards it, in 
perfect silence ; it 
seemed to take no 
notice, sitting mo- 
tionless, as if it had 
been stuffed and 
placed there for or- 
nament. In an in- 
The Kingfisher. stant it darted off, 
with so rapid a motion, that a green bright line from the 
post to a splash of water where it had plunged, alone marked 
its course. In another instant it rose, and with as rapid a 
flight resumed its position on the post, having swallowed the 
little fish whose bright scales we could just see glistening in 
the sun, as the bird emerged from the water. There it 
rested motionless as before, till another plunge denoted the 
capture of another fish; and so on, till, after having captured 
four or five, it darted away, and was seen no more. Its nest 
is in great part composed of fish-bones, which it throws up 
in pellets, similar to those cast up by Owls, of which w'e have 
already spoken. 
The Humming-birds are the last of this tribe we shall 
notice, lamenting that none but those who cross the seas, 
and can visit them in their native haunts, will ever be 
fortunate enough to behold the glorious robes with which 
nature can invest even the smallest of her works. Truly 
may it be said of these lovely birds, as of the lilies of the 
