1-1 umming-Birds.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 1, 3 January 1907, Page 35

H umming-Birds .

Some interesting characteristics of the humming-bird were given in a recent number of ~"the_ ' Field.' A peculiarity of these birds, it' appears, is their apparent lack o£ intelligence, "while they are also remarkable for their vitality.- At times when considered dead they have boon quickly restored to life. by placing them in light and warmth. • They also ''resemble insects, particularly hawk-moths, in their custom of obtaining ,food from flowers, although they undoubtedly extract nectar f ronT the blossoms ; '"their - chief food consists of insects which they find in the blossoms ; certain species have been observed feeding on insects gathered from the leaves of various' plants. - Gould, in a comprehensive and valuable monograph on these birds, written in 1861, referred to about' 4oo species, but this-,- -'number -- has been considerably, added to since. It was- Gould who brought a' specimen of the ruby-throated hum-, ming-bird to. London, but it lived only a very short time. A humming-bird captured'" at Washington also existed in captivity for several days in the care .of, this clever naturalist, who" carried- it •about in a little, gauze bag suspended on a piece of whalebone attached to a button of his coat. Gould fed it on sugar . or^ 1 honey and water with yolk of egg added, the mixture being carried, in. a bottle iri his pocket"; at feediriig time he merely held the bottle against the bag, when the • little bird readily thrust its bill through the gauze and down the neck of the bottle and sucked up the fluid until it was satiated ; ifc would then retire, to the bottom ~6f its bag and preen its feathers.