emerald. We were once fortunate enough to watch one, within a few yards, for some time. It was on a calm sunny day; the bird was observed to settle on the post of a rail, projecting into a piece of water: a boat was gently impelled towards it, in perfect silence; it seemed to take no notice,

sitting motionless, as if it had been stuffed and placed there for ornament. In an instant it darted off, with so rapid a motion, that a green bright line from the post to a splash of water where it had plunged, alone marked its course. In

another instant it rose, and with as rapid a flight resumed its position on the post, having swallowed the little fish whose bright scales we could just see glistening in the sun, as the bird emerged from the water. There it rested motionless as before, till another plunge denoted the capture of another fish; and so on, till, after having captured four or five, it darted away, and was seen no more. Its nest is in great part composed of fish-bones, which it throws up in pellets, similar to those cast up by Owls, of which we have already spoken.

The Humming-birds are the last of this tribe we shall notice, lamenting that none but those who cross the seas, and can visit them in their native haunts, will ever be fortunate enough to behold the glorious robes with which Nature can invest even the smallest of her works. Truly may it be said of these lovely birds, as of the lilies of the field, "that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

"Never was I more excited to wonder than by one of these little creatures," says a traveller,* "so much more resembling a splendid shining insect than a bird. It was on a fine day, at the commencement of an American summer, on the banks of Lake Huron, that I first beheld them. Beautiful birds were drinking and splashing themselves in the water; and gaudy butterflies, of a very large size, were fanning the air with their yellow and black wings. At this moment a little blazing meteor shot, like a glowing coal of fire, across the glen; and I saw for the first time, with admiration and astonishment, what in a moment I recognised, that resplendent living gem, the Humming-bird! buzzing like a humble-bee, which it exactly resembled in its flight and sound: like it, it sprang through the air by a series of simultaneous impulses, tracing angle after angle with the velocity of lightning; till, poised above its favourite flower, all motion seemed lost in its very intensity, and the humming sound alone certified to the ear the rapid vibration of its wing, by which it supported its little airy form.'

They vary from the size of a humble-bee to that of a WillowWren, the nests of the smaller sort appearing more like mossy knots on a branch than the manufacture of a bird, not exceeding an inch in diameter, and formed of the most delicate materials. They will build fearlessly within sight of a window, where they may be leisurely observed. They frequently * CAPTAIN HEAD'S Forest Scenes.

assemble in great numbers round some sorts of flowers, yielding those sweet juices which, together with insects, compose their food. The aloe is one of them. A gentleman in Jamaica thus describes them hovering round a plot of these plants covering nearly twenty square yards, of which about a dozen were in full bloom. "The spikes, bearing bunches of flowers, were from twelve to fifteen feet high; on each spike were many

hundred blossoms, of a bright yellow colour, each of a tubular shape, and containing its drop of honey. These alone afforded," as he says, "a splendid scene; but the interest was doubled by the addition of vast numbers of Humming-birds, fluttering round the openings of the flowers, and dipping their bills first into one floret and then into another, the sun shining bright upon their beautiful plumage, giving them the appearance of

now a ruby, then a topaz, then an emerald, and then all burnished gold."

Delicate and tender as these little creatures are, seeming as if they could not exist for a moment beyond the confines of a sunbeam, they are nevertheless scattered very extensively over the whole continent of America: they were found in the desolate regions of the south, near Cape Horn, hovering over the fuchsia blossoms at Port Famine, and even flying about in snow-storms. In the north they have been seen in the still more dreary regions of Prince William's Sound, on the same parallel of latitude as the Shetland Islands, to the north of Scotland; and, what is even more extraordinary, they were discovered on the snowy heights of the Orizaba mountains, three times the height of Snowdon above the level of the sea. In all these desolate situations they seemed as lively as when under the influence of burning sunbeams near the equator. It was in one of these latter situations that Mr. Bullock, who visited Mexico with a view to the natural history of a country then scarcely known, saw how ingeniously these little birds contrived to rob the webs of the spiders of that country of the flies that were entangled in them. They would advance beneath the web, and enter the various labyrinths and cells, taking care to make good their retreat if the spider sallied forth to repel them. In ascending some of the spiders' fly-traps great skill and care were required; sometimes the bird had scarcely room for his little wings to spread, and the least mismanagement would have ensnared him in the meshes of the web, and ensured his destruction. It was only the outworks of the comparatively small spiders, of about his own size, that the Humming-bird durst attack, as the larger sort rushed out in defence of their property, when the robber would shoot off like a sunbeam, and could be only traced, like an electric spark, by the luminous glow of its refulgent colours.

TABLE XIV. (See page 15.)

Contains the third order, consisting of birds with two toes before and two behind, for the purpose of climbing. This

order is subdivided into two tribes, distinguished by the form and character of their beaks: the cuneiform, or wedge-shaped, being small, and not toothed or indented; and the levirostral, or light beaks, which are indented more or less, and though in general large, are of a lighter and thinner substance.

TABLE XV. (See page 16.)

ORDER 2. TRIBE I.

CUNEIROSTRAL (Wedge-billed).

Of the five genera included in this tribe, the Cuckoos, Woodpeckers, and Wrynecks, are found in England. The remaining two, viz., Jacamars and Anis, are American. The Jacamars are nearly allied to the Kingfishers, living, however, on insects instead of fish, and building on low branches in the depth of dark and damp forests, instead of in holes by the water-side. The Anis, like the Jacamars, frequent the woods, but seem to be of a much more social nature. If taken young,

they may be easily tamed, and even taught to speak some words. Amongst themselves, too, they are the most friendly birds imaginable, for they not only fly in flocks, but lay and sit many pairs together, in one large nest, built by joint consent for the whole party. Future travellers, we doubt not, will be able to relate many interesting anecdotes of these sociable, happy birds; but at present little more is known. about them than what we have related.

Not so, however, of our British cuneiform birds, our Cuckoos, Woodpeckers, and Wrynecks. Everybody's attention is drawn to the first, whether he will or no. For as soon as the winter is well over, and "April showers prepare the way for May flowers," we hear the Cuckoo's note. It would be difficult to say whether we should call them solitary birds or not. Usually indeed one only is seen; but not unfrequently three, four, or even more, will assemble upon a tree, and make the air resound with their well-known notes, uttered sometimes as they remain perched, at others as they quiver through the air with an odd sort of wild fluttering flight. It appears, however, from good evidence, that they