HUMMING BIRD. 
213 
they generally retire to the south. I have, indeed, 
sometimes seen a solitary individual on the 28 th and 
80 th of that month, and sometimes even in October ; 
but these cases are rare. About the beginning’ of 
November, they pass the southern boundary of the 
United States into Florida. 
The humming bird is three inches and a half in 
length, and four and a quarter in extent; the whole 
back, upper part of the neck, sides under the wings, 
tail-coverts, and two middle feathers of the tail, are of 
a rich golden green ; the tail is forked, and, as well as 
the wings, of a deep brownish purple; the bill and 
eyes are black ; the legs and feet, both of which are 
extremely small, are also black ; the bill is straight, 
very slender, a little inflated at the tip, and very incom- 
petent to the exploit of penetrating the tough sinewy 
side of a crow, and precipitating it from the clouds to 
the earth, as Charlevoix would persuade his readers to 
believe.* The nostrils are two small oblong slits, 
situated at the base of the upper mandible, scarcely 
perceivable when the bird is dead, though very distin- 
guishable and prominent when living ; the sides of the 
belly, and belly itself, dusky white, mixed with green; 
but what constitutes the chief ornament of this little 
bird, is the splendour of the feathers of his throat, 
which, when placed in a proper position, glow with 
all the brilliancy of the ruby. These feathers are of 
singular strength and texture, lying close together like 
scales, and vary, when moved before the eye, from a 
deep black to a flery crimson and burning orange. The 
female is destitute of this ornament ; but differs little 
in other appearance from the male; her tail is tipt 
with white, and the whole lower parts are of the same 
tint. The young birds of the first season, both male 
and female, have the tail tipt with white, and the whole 
lower parts nearly white ; in the month of September, 
the ornamental feathers on the throat of the young 
males begin to appear. 
* Histoire de la Nouvelle France , iii, p. 185. 
