FLYING FLOWERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 1, 23 March 1927, Page 10

FLYING FLOWERS

THE DELICATE HUMMING BIRDS Humming birds are the smallest of all the birds and at the same time the most beautiful, for in their plumage can be seen almost aM the colours of the rainbow—beautiful shades of purple, green, crimson and blue, intermingled with gold and copper tints. It is said that a humming bird when stripped of its feathers is no larger than a bumble-bee, so this will give you some idea of how very small it really is. There are very many kinds of these tiny feathered creatures, the difference between them lying chiefly in the head and tail feathers, some of them having beautifully crested heads, and others two or more of the tail feathers much longer than the rest. Their bills are very long in proportion to their tiny bodies. Some varieties have straight bills, while others have curved ones. Although these birds are the smallest known, they build much daintier and more carefully finished nests than most other birds. The nest is made to hang from the bough of a tree, or even from a large leaf, and is built of soft moss or lichen, kept in shape not with sticks, but with the delicate silky threads left on the trees by certain spiders. It must take them a long time to collect and arrange these threads, and they certainly exercise a great deal of patience in putting their nests together so neatly. When flying, their wings beat the air so rapidly that they make a distinct humming sound, and from this their name is derived. They have no song, but make a little chirping noise and their food consists of insects which they find in the heart of flowers on certain bushes. It is a very curious sight to watch these tiny creatures catching their insect food, for they do not rest on the flower containing the coveted tit-bits, but hover above it, continually dipping their long beaks into it. At such times they do not appear to be birds at all, for their wings move so rapidly that they cannot be distinguished. The little creatures might be nothing more than bright-hued flying flowers pausing over their favourite bushes.