122 
LITTLE FOLKS 
long, and double nearly to the base. It can be thrust out ever so 
far beyond the bill, and no drop of honey, and no tiny insect, how- 
ever well hidden in a deep flower, can escape that tongue. 
The nest of the Humming Bird is as wonderful as everything 
about him. It is generally made of soft and woolly substances, 
coated on the outside with bits of lichen or moss to make it look 
like the twig on which it is built. So well is it done, that it has 
often been mistaken for a small knot. Some of the family hang 
their cozy nests to the end of a leaf, as you see in the picture, and 
there they rock with every breeze, in their home not made bigger 
than a thimble. 
Mamma Humming Bird lays two small white eggs, about the 
size of a bean, and in ten days the little ones are hatched. There's 
another thing about these dainty cup-like nests — the edges are all 
made to curve in, so that in a high wind the eggs can't be shaken 
out. Other nests are built on top of a twig, as you see in this 
next picture. 
This nest, the 
upper one, looks as 
though made of leath- 
er and it is almost 
impossible to see it 
on the branch, it is 
so exactly of the same 
color. The owner of . 
this cunning home is 
the Fiery Topaz Hum- 
ming Bird, and his 
dress is of fiery scarlet, 
with bright green on 
the throat. 
The other nest 
hanging to a leaf 
belongs to the Hermit 
Humming Bird. It 
is made of soft cottony 
substances from 
plants, bound to- 
gether by spiders' web. 
Indeed spiders' webs 
