28 o 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
off insects, for I have many times watched them sitting upon a perch, usually 
the limb of a tree, from whence they would dart off to seize passing flies, mos¬ 
quitoes, or even small case-winged insects, and these species not only exhibit 
a carnivorous appetite for a day, but may be seen about the same spot watch¬ 
ing for prey in this manner day after day. Some few species emit several notes, 
and one South American habitant is said to sing sweetly, but generally they give 
forth only a single low twit , except when fighting, when they produce a sharp 
twittering noise. Small as the humming-bird is, he is a fearless and pugnacious 
creature, not only quick to attack one of his kind, but equally prompt to avenge 
himself upon the largest birds of prey. 
The male hummer is much more gaudily clothed than his more modest 
mate, in which respect the male of all birds excels the female. The nests which 
they construct are at once mar¬ 
vels of structure and comfort, 
though some are scarcely larger 
than a walnut shell. Their shape 
is usually cup-like, and lined with 
some very soft material, while 
not infrequently there is some 
effort at exterior ornamentation, 
by the tasty addition of lichens 
and mosses attached by cobwebs. 
The place selected is usually a 
pendant bough or the side of a 
large leaf, though some even 
select the shelf of a rock. Pro¬ 
fessor Jamison, of Quito, men¬ 
tions having seen a nest attached 
to a piece of suspended rope, and 
that as the weight of the nest 
being upon one side threw it out 
of perpendicular, the bird over¬ 
came this defect by carrying 
stones with which it weighted 
the other side until the equi¬ 
librium was restored. 
The number of species is so 
large that a volume would be 
can at best only introduce some of the 
more striking specimens of the genera, though these will be sufficient to 
excite anew our interest and admiration in this, at once the daintiest and 
prettiest of God’s creatures. 
The Ruby Throat (Trochilus colubris ) is the most common species found 
within the United States, for nearly all these living sunbeams have their homes 
in Mexico, Central and South America. The ruby is therefore hardly to be 
compared for beauty with many of the much more charming species of the 
equatorial regions, but he is a most fascinating elf withal. The ruby rarely 
arrives from his southern home before the middle of April, and his coming may 
be looked upon as a sure sign that the chilly days are over. The name ruby 
NEST OF THE SWORD-BEAK. 
required to describe them all, hence 
