‘qi YOUTH'S CABINET. 805

flight. He is one of those few birds that
are universally beloved.”

Formerly humming-birds were supposed
to live entirely on the honey they collected
from the flowers. But it is now certain
that they feed, in part at least, on insects.
Indeed, I have seen the little fellows en-
gaged in fly-catching, and it seemed to
be very pretty sport for them. Perhaps
their errand to the flowers has as much
to do with the capture of insects they find
there, as with the honey at the bottom
of the corolla. I think it quite likely, in
fact, though I do not agree with those _
who tell us, that the humming-bird. eats
insects only, and that he has nothing to
do with honey ; for it is found, that, when
the bird is confined for a while in the
house, until he becomes hungry, he eats
honey and sugar with a good relish.

Sometimes they are seen chasing each |
other in sport, with such a rapidity of
flight, and with such a winding path, that
the eye is puzzled to follow them. Again,
circling round and round, they rise high
in mid air, then dart off, like light, to
some distant object. Perched upon a lit-
tle limb, they smooth their plumes, and
seem to delight in their dazzling hues ;
then, starting off leisurely, they skim
along, stopping a moment, perhaps, just
to kiss the flowerets. Often two meet in
the air, and furiously fight, their crests
and the feathers upon their throats all
erected and blazing, and altogether pic-
tures of the most violent rage. Several
times we saw them battling with large
black bees, who frequent the same flowers,
and may be supposed often to interfere
provokingly. Like lightning, our little
heroes would come down, but the coat of
shining mail would ward their furious
strokes; again and again would they re-
new the attack, until their anger had ex-
pended itself, or until the bee, once roused,
had put forth powers that drove the in-
vader from the field. A boy in the city
several times brought us humming-birds,
alive, in a glass cage. He had brought
them down while, standing motionless in
the air, they rifled the flowers, by balls of
clay thrown from a hollowed tube.”
Wilson says that the only note of the
humming-bird is a chirp, not much louder
than that of a cricket or grasshopper. It
is generally uttered while the bird is pass-
ing from flower to flower, or when he is
engaged in a fight with some one of his
neighbors. “I have seen the humming-
bird attack, and, for a few moments, worry
a king-bird,” says the same writer. “I
have also seen him, in his turn, assaulted

by a humble bee, which he soon put to

  
  
 
 
   
    
 
 
 
 
   
  

Passing through a Thunder-Cloud.

HOUGH a situation of great danger,
yet we have several imstances of
Af thunder clouds having been trav-
ersed with safety, when in the
act of electrical explosion. The Abbé
Richard, in 1778, passed through 2
thunder-cloud on the small mountain
called Boyer, between Chalons and
Tournus. Before he entered the cloud,
the thunder sounded, as it usually does,
with a prolonged echo. But when he
was in the cloud, only single peals were
heard, with intervals of silence, without
any roll, After he had passed above
the cloud, it echoed as before, and the
lightning again flashed, as it usually
does in a thunder-storm.