204 DOUBLE-CRESTED HUMMING-BIRD.

Their food consists of insects, and the honey of flowers.
They are bold and spirited, and defend their nests with
great courage; darting at the eyes of intruders, and
easily defeating feathered enemies far exceeding them-
selves in size.

Lively and full of energy, these gilded fairies of the
feathered race are almost incessantly on the wing,
darting from one object to another, and displaying
their gorgeous hues in the beams of the sun. When
performing a lengthened flight, as during migration,
they pass through the air in long undulations, raising
themselves for some distance, and then falling in a
curve. When about to feed, or in search of a favourite
flower, they hover stationary, surveying all around,
and suddenly dart off to the object. Bullock observes
that “they remain suspended in the air in a space barely
sufficient for them to move their wings, and the hum-
ming noise proceeds entirely from the surprising velocity
with which they perform that motion, by which they
will keep their bodies in the air, apparently motionless,
for hours together,”