frighten off the old bird should she be within, which I found was the case; nevertheless she suffered me to pull the nest to the bottom of the tree before she attempted to escape. There were seven eggs slightly sat upon. It seems to me very extraordinary that the female should allow her nest to be disturbed five times, and the eggs (amounting to twenty-two) to be taken away at different periods within the month, before she finally abandoned the spot she had selected." * * * * * HUMMING BIRDS. THE HUMMING BIRDS (_Stridor_), a family of most beautiful and fairy-like beings, inhabiting the Western Hemisphere, comprise some of the smallest members of the feathered creation. In these birds the beak is generally long, slender, straight, or curved, usually round, and sharp at the tip; the nostrils are basal, and covered with a large scale; the wings and tail are very variously formed, the latter being always composed of ten feathers; the very short tarsi are most delicately constructed; the long slender toes are covered with small scales, and either partially united or completely free from each other; the sharp-pointed claws frequently exceed the toes in length. The glorious plumage possessed by the members of this most attractive family has been enthusiastically described by many writers, but never more eloquently than by Buffon. "Of all animated beings," says that naturalist, "the Humming Bird is the most elegant in form and brilliant in colour. The stones and metals polished by art are not comparable to this gem of nature; she has placed it in the order of birds, but amongst the tiniest of the race--_maxime miranda in minimis_--she has loaded it with all the gifts of which she has only imparted a share to other birds--agility, nimbleness, grace, and rich attire, all belong to this little favourite. The emerald, the ruby, and the topaz glitter in her garb, which is never soiled with the dirt of earth, for, leading an aërial life, it rarely touches the turf even for an instant. Always in the air, flying from flower to flower, it shares their freshness and their splendour, imbibes their nectar, and only inhabits those climes in which they are unceasingly renewed. The Humming Bird seems to follow the sun, to advance, to retire with him, and to fly on the wings of the wind in pursuit of an eternal spring."