HUMMING-BIRDS. 
IF these exquisite little creatures are 
called Humming-birds, you little 
folk may ask, why wasn't the Bee 
called a Buzzard because it buzzes? 
Well, really, that is a question which 
I will not attempt to answer, but the 
fact remains that no other name would 
have been so appropriate for these 
jewel-like birds but the one above, on 
account of the humming sound which 
they produce when hovering in their 
curious fashion over a tempting blos- 
som, and feeding on its contents while 
suspended in air. 
There are four hundred and sixty- 
seven species of these little birds, 
and no two of them, 'tis said, make 
precisely the same sound, one pro- 
ducing a noise exactly like the whiz- 
zing of a wheel driven by machinery, 
while that of another is very like 
the droning hum of a large Bee. But 
no two voices in even one human 
family, you know, are alike, so it is 
not amazing that the rule holds good 
among the birds. 
You can capture and tame these 
lovely little creatures, too, though I 
wouldn't advise you to keep them in a 
cage very long. They will pine away 
and look very doleful if you do. 
Rather, after you have accustomed 
them to your presence, and fed them 
regularly upon the honey and syrup 
and other sweets which they dearly 
love, open the cage door and give them 
their liberty. A gentleman once did 
this and was delighted to see them re- 
turn to their old quarters in a very lit- 
tle while. By watching them the next 
morning after setting them free again, 
he found they had been pining for a. 
nice fresh garden Spider which they 
had been accustomed to daintily pick 
from the center of his web. He had 
provided them with Spiders and Flies, 
but they wanted to flit about and 
search for themselves. For dessert 
they liked the sweets which he gave 
them, so back they went to their cage, 
instead of extracting it from the flowers 
with their long bills, as they were wont 
to do. 
A Humming-bird one summer built 
its nest in a butternut tree very near a 
lady's window. She could look right 
down into its nest, and one day, as it be- 
gan to rain, she saw the mother-bird 
take one or two large leaves from a 
tree near by and cover her little bird- 
lings with it. She understood how to 
make an umbrella, didn't she? 
216 
APR .25 m 
