45 6 
HUMMING BIRD. 
tion, and their size so diminutive that the smallest 
species is not larger than a hazel-nut. To this the 
red-throated kind is a giant, as it measures three 
inches and a third in length. The Indians, struck 
with the elegant and glowing tints of this little 
creature, called it the sun-beam, others the regene- 
rated ; from a belief that it died annually, and was 
re-animated on the return of spring with the flowers 
it fed on. 
The rapidity of its flight is too great for the eye 
to follow, and the motion of the wings is imper- 
ceptible to the nicest observer. Lightning is scarce- 
ly more transient than its flight, nor the glare more 
bright than its colours. Marcgrave compares the 
noise of their wings to the whirr of a spinning- 
wheel ; and the quiver of the pinions is so amazing- 
ly quick, that when the bird halts in the air, it 
seems at once deprived of motion and of life. It 
never feeds but on the wing ; and after having rested 
a few seconds beside one flower, it shoots to the 
next in search of new sweets, which, like the bee, 
it extracts from the nectarium of each. It subsists 
alone upon this honeyed liquor, and its tongue is 
calculated for the purpose of obtaining it. This con- 
sists of two hollow fibres, forming a small canal, re- 
sembling the proboscis of insects. When this cu- 
rious little instrument is thrust to the bottom of the 
flower, it pierces the honey-bag, and the juice flows 
through the canal. Flowers with the deepest tubes 
are most admired by the humming bird, and the 
female balsamine and scarlet monarda are parti- 
