268 
THE HUMMING-BIRD. 
splendid scene; but the interest was doubled by the addi- 
tion of vast numbers of Humming-birds, fluttering round tbe 
openings of tbe flowers, and dipping tbeir bills first into 
one floret and then into another, the sun shining bright upon 
their beautiful plumage, giving them the appearance of, now 
a ruby, then a topaz, then an emerald, and then all burnished 
gold.” 
Delicate and tender as these little creatures are, seeming 
as if they could not exist for a moment beyond the confines 
of a sunbeam, they are nevertheless scattered very extensively 
over the whole continent of America: they were found in the 
desolate regions of the south, near Cape Horn, hovering over 
the fuchsia blossoms at Port Famine, and even flying about 
in snow-storms. In the north they have been seen in the 
still more dreary regions of Prince William’s Sound, on the 
same parallel of latitude as the Shetland Islands, to the north 
of Scotland; and, what is even more extraordinary, they 
were discovered on the snowy heights of the Orizaba moun- 
tains, three times the height of Snowdon above the level of 
the sea. In all these desolate situations they seemed as 
lively as when under the influence of burning sunbeams near 
the equator. It was in one of these latter situations that 
Mr. Bullock, who visited Mexico with a view to the natural 
history of a country then scarcely known, saw how ingeniously 
these little birds contrived to rob the webs of the spiders of 
that country, of the flies that were entangled in them. They 
would advance beneath the web, and enter the various 
labyrinths and cells, taking care to make good their retreat, 
if the spider sallied forth to repel them. In ascending some 
of the spider’s fly-traps great skill and care were required; 
sometimes the bird had scarcely room for his little wings to 
spread, and the least mismanagement would have insnared 
him in the meshes of the web, and insured his destruction. 
It was only the outworks of the comparatively small spiders, 
of about his own size, that the Humming-bird durst attack, 
as the larger sort rushed out in defence of their property, 
when the robber would shoot off like a sunbeam, and could 
be only traced, like an electric spark, by the luminous glow 
of its refulgent colours. 
