Their nests, composed for the most part of mosses, the cottony or silken down of plants, and lichens, are bound up and strengthened by the glutinous net-work of spiders' webs. Mr. Guilding has frequently seen humming-birds enter his stable in search of the required material. The eggs, so far as we know, are invariably two in number, with the exception of Trochilus hirsutus, which is alleged to lay only

The males and females are said to sit by turns, and they have several broods in a single season. It is only in this way that we can account for the abundance of birds which lay so few eggs at a time. Mr. Kirk, in a communication to Sir William Jardine ("Naturalist's Library," vol. ii.), describes the proceedings of the ruby humming-bird. "Her man

ner of construction was very ingenious: bringing a pile of small grass or lichen, she commenced upon a small twig about a quarter of an inch in diameter, immediately below a large leaf, which entirely covers and conceals the nest from above, the height from the ground being about three feet. After the nest had received two or three of these grasses, she set herself in the centre, and putting her long, slender beak over the outer edge, seemed to use it and her throat much in the same manner as a mason does his trowel, for the purpose of smoothing, rubbing to and fro, and sweeping quite round. Each visit to the nest seemed to occupy only

*Of course humming-birds' eggs are the least of all eggs. They almost look like peas. The largest egg we ever heard of is that of which accounts reached Europe in the course of 1851 as having occurred in Madagascar. It measured thirteen inches in length, eight in diameter, and its longest circumference was thirty-three inches. Its capacity was equal to eighteen pints, or six times greater than that of the ostrich. Its contents were equal to 148 ordinary hens' eggs. It was discovered in an alluvial stratum near a stream, and the bones of an enormous bird, since called Epyornis, were discovered in the same locality, and nearly at the same time. Neither was recent, the egg itself being a mere shell.

a couple of seconds, and her absence from it not more than as many minutes. In a few hours after I saw the nest, which had all the appearance of a finished one. I expect to find an egg there to-day." The materials employed, however, seem to vary with the conditions of the country. The hardy species, which in summer migrates as far north as the Elk River, makes great use of the downy seeds of an anemone, bound with a few stalks of moss and lichen. The period of incubation seems rather short, from ten to twelve days, according to the kind. Audubon says, the young are ready to fly in a week,—a statement contradicted by Waterton, and not confirmed by other writers.

Although the species in general are shy and easily dis turbed, exceptional cases of an interesting kind occur. In the house of a gentleman of a humane and kindly disposition in St. Vincent's, a pair may be said to have been almost domesticated. They built for many years on the chain of a lamp suspended over the dining table, and there they brought up several broods, although the room was hourly occupied by the family. However large a party might be assembled, the parent birds would enter freely, and passing close along the faces of the guests, ascended to their young without alarm.

Attempts have been made to bring these charming birds alive to England. Dr. Latham informs us that two young individuals of the kind called mango humming-bird, were once brought in safety to our shores. One of them lived for two months after its arrival, the other did not survive many days. Sir Henry Englefield and Colonel Sloane were both witnesses to these little creatures taking honey from Lady Hammond's mouth with their bills. Azara relates how Don Pedro Melo, the governor of Paraquay, kept a hummingbird, which was caught full-grown, for the period of four months. It flew about the house at liberty, knew and recognised its master, whom it would salute, and follow and

fly around for food. At such times when Don Melo took a cup of clear syrup, and inclined it to one side, the bird would plunge in its tiny beak, and feed freely. He also spread before it many a bright consummate flower; and thus the charming creature lived as sumptuously as if on bright savannahs, by the verge of leafy forests, or the banks of We need scarcely record its fate (the frequent one of pets), as occasioned, during the absence of its fond master, by "the negligence of domestics."

streams.

During the breeding season, in their natural state, they are jealous and passionate, flying within a few inches. of the face of the human intruder, and striking at the eyes of birds vastly larger than themselves. Fernando Oviedo ("History of the West Indies") gives, indeed, an alarming account of their fiery and irrepressible temper: "When they see a man climb ye tree where they have their nests, they flee at his face, and stryke him in the eyes, commying, goying, and returnying with such swiftness, that no man woulde ryghtly believe it that hath not seen it." But, in spite of their irascible habits, these resplendent creatures are universal favourites wherever they show themselves; and in the sweet serenity of early day, who would not rejoice in their radiant presence among the opening flowers?

"When morning dawns, and the blest sun again

Lifts his red glories from the eastern main,

Then through the woodbines, wet with glittering dews,
The flower-fed humming-bird his round pursues.

Sips, with inserted bill, the honeyed blooms,
And chirps his gratitude as round he roams;
While richest roses, though in crimson drest,
Shrink from the splendour of his gorgeous breast.
What heavenly tints in mingling radiance fly !
Each rapid movement gives a different dye.
Like scales of burnished gold they dazzling show,
Now sink to shade, now like a furnace glow !"

The wings of humming-birds are long and powerful, in proportion to the weight they have to carry. Their exterior outline is much curved, and the general form resembles that of the swift, so well known for its incessant powers of flight. Each individual wing-feather is narrow, its plumules or component parts being extremely firm and compact, and thereby rendered more efficient. This peculiar texture, when the wings vibrate rapidly, no doubt produces that humming sound from which the family derives its name. No air passes through or between the feathers, which in closeness resemble the membranous wings of bees, and hence the same result. The shafts of the quills are strong and elastic, and in certain species, called sabre-winged hummingbirds (genus Campylopterus, Swainson), are extraordinarily developed at the base, the quill portion being almost as broad as the plume. The tail is also powerful, and fullfeathered, although a singular exception is supposed to occur in one species (Trochilus enicurus), in which it is said there are only six feathers in the tail-the smallest number known in any bird.

The migrations of the feathered tribes have in all ages been an object both of wonder and of pleasing speculation; but in no instance do these movements appear more marvellous than when considered in relation to such feeble tribes. The broad-winged stork "observes the time of his coming;" the sustained and long-continued flights of the eagle and the albatross seem only commensurate with the obvious power of their "sail-broad vans;" but how is our admiration increased when we observe that instinctive energy exercised by the frailest of the feathered tribes, which aforehand we should expect to see dispersed, like thistle-down, even by the breath of the morning! As an example of the continuous flight of these fragile creatures, we may mention that, as birds of passage, they occur in the "vexed Bermudas," during their autumnal migration, being

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probably blown out of their more direct course through the Southern States of America.

We desire not to have our feelings and affections for the things that be very greatly guided by utilitarian views; and we, therefore, in no way hold any bird in less esteem for its excellency, because it may not, like the eider-duck or swan, be of much commercial value. We know not that hummingbirds nowadays actually serve us greatly in any way, or, at least, on any other principle than the gracious one that

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever."

The ancient Mexicans, however, transformed their feathers into superb mantles in the days of Montezuma; and the pictures extolled by the "gentle Cortes" (alas! for Christian inroads unaccompanied by Christian love,) were embroidered by their plumy coats-of-mail. The capital of the Aztec nation rejoices in the euphonious name of Tzizunzan, bestowed upon it by reason of the humming-birds which so abound in its vicinity, and with the golden garments of which the statues of their gods are clothed. According to Ward ("Mexico in 1827"), the Indians of Patzquara are still famous for that plumy art. They form figures of "Saints" with the feathers of humming-birds, executed with great delicacy, and no doubt distinguished by a more halo-like lustre than any which ever filled the cowl of St. Francis, or shone from St. Dominic's shaven crown.

The bill in this family varies greatly in the different groups. In some it is very small, and, although slender, short. In others it is lengthened, and curved downwards, as among the creepers. In a few it is bent upwards, in a form but seldom seen. In several it is so remarkably drawn out, as it were, that it actually exceeds the entire length of the bird's body. All these diversified forms are, as usual, found to be in fine adaptation to the habits of the respective species. J. W.

(To be continued.)