234 
A DESCRIPTION OF 
ing gems. They are extremely active, darting about, and 
thrusting their long beaks and flexible tongues into every 
flower they see, in search of food. Sometimes they will 
remain suspended in the air for an hour or two together, 
vibrating their wings with such velocity, that they cannot 
be seen distinctly, but appear like a mist round the body 
of the bird, while they make that curious humming noise 
from which the bird takes its name. Sometimes they 
quarrel, when their little throats become distended, their 
crests, tails, and wings are expanded, and they fight with 
inconceivable fury, till one of them falls exhausted on 
the ground. The most common species is Trochilus 
colubris, and one of them has been kept alive in a cage for 
more than three months, by feeding itwith sugar and water. 
THE HOOPOE. (Upupa epops.) 
THIS is a small bird, measuring no more than twelve 
inches from the point of the bill to the end of the tail. 
