smallest the size of our common humblebee. They feed upon the nectar, which they extract with their slender and tubular beaks and threadlike tongues, from the cups of the flowers: always on the wing, and never alighting to take their food: in this situation the constant fluttering of their wings, which move with incredible velocity, produces a humming noise, whence they receive their denomination. They suspend their nest, which is not bigger than a walnut, to the branches of the orange or lemon tree, and the female deposits there two eggs only, very white, dashed with brown spots, as small as a common pea.

The colour of this small favourite of nature is most beautiful, resembling, by its bright azure and deep green colour, mixed with a golden gloss, the richness of the peacock's neck. Some species of this dwarfish bird are very remarkable for the length of their forked tails. It is natural to suppose, that, feeding upon the ambrosia which they find in the scented bosom of the flowers, they cannot subsist in countries where the severity of the winter season destroys this pride of our gardens, and must therefore be confined to those tropical regions, where ever blooming flowers present them with a never failing stream of nectar.

"My friend Captain Davis informs me," says Dr. Latham, in his Synopsis of Birds, "that he kept these birds alive for four months by the following method: -He made an exact representation of some of the tubular flowers, with paper fastened round a tobaccopipe, and painted them of a proper colour; these were placed in the order of nature, in the cage in which the little creatures were confined: the bottoms of the tubes were filled with a mixture of brown sugar and water, as often as emptied; and he had the pleasure of seeing them perform every action; for they soon grew familiar, and though close under the eye, took their nourishment in the same manner as when ranging at large in the open air."

ASTONISHED at the unparalleled beauty of this bird, the ancients could not help indulging their lively and creative fancy, in accounting for the magnificence of his plumage. They made him the favourite of imperial Juno, sister and wife to Jupiter; and not less than the hundred eyes of Argus were pulled out to ornament his tail; indeed, there is scarcely any thing in nature that can vie with the transcendent lustre of the Peacock's feathers. The changing glory of his neck eclipses the deep azure of ultramarine; and at the least evolution, it assumes the green tint of the emerald, and the purple hue of the amethyst. His head, which is small and finely shaped, has several curious stripes of white and black round the eyes, and is surmounted by an elegant plume, or tuft of feathers, each of which is composed of a slender stem and a small flower at the top. Displayed with conscious pride, for the purpose of expressing his love to his female,

and exposed under a variety of angles to the reflections of versatile light, the broad and variegated discus of his tail, of which the neck, head, and breast of the bird become the centre, claims our well merited admiration. By an extraordinary mixture of the brightest colours, it displays at once the richness of gold, and the paler tints of silver, fringed with bronze-coloured edges, and surrounding eye-like spots of dark brown and sapphire; it is supposed that this bird is conscious of his incomparable beauty, and sensible to the voice of praise. The female does not share these great honours with the cock, and is generally of a light brown. She lays only a few eggs at a time, and these at a distance of usually three or four days from each other; they are white and spotted, like the eggs of the turkey. She sits from twenty-seven to thirty days.

The loud screamings of the Peacock are worse than the harsh croakings of the raven, and a sure prognostic of bad weather; and his feet, more clumsy than those of the turkey, make a sad contrast with the elegance of the rest.

Though richest hues the Peacock's plumes adorn,
Yet horror screams from his discordant throat.

The spreading of the tail, the swelling of the throat, neck, and breast, and the puffing noise, which they emit at certain times, are proofs that the turkey and the Peacock stand nearly allied in the family chain of animated beings.

The flesh of the Peacock was anciently a princely dish; and the whole bird used to be served on the table, with the feathers of the neck and tail preserved; but few people could now relish such food, as it is much coarser than the flesh of the turkey. The Italians have given this laconic description of the Peacock: "He has the plumage of an angel, the voice of a devil, and the stomach of a thief."

WAS originally an inhabitant of America, whence he was brought to Europe by some jesuit missionaries, which accounts for his being called a jesuit in some parts of the continent. Except the tuft on the head, which he does not share with the Peacock, and his plumage, which is very different from that of the latter, in many particulars he is very like him. The general colour is brown and black; and they have about the head, especially the cock, naked and tuberous lumps of flesh of a bright red colour. A long fleshy appendage depends from the base of the upper mandible, and seems to be lengthened and shortened at pleasure. The hen lays from fifteen to twenty eggs, which are whitish and freckled. The chickens are very tender, and require great care and attentive nursing, before they are able to seek their food. In the county of Norfolk the breeding of Turkeys, which is there a considerable branch of commerce, is brought to such a perfection, that they are the largest in this island, weighing upwards of twenty pounds each; and in the East Indies they generally weigh upward of fifty.

They appear to have a natural antipathy to every thing of a red colour.

Though extremely prone to quarrel among themselves, they are, in general, weak and cowardly against other animals, and are seen to fly from almost every creature that will venture to oppose them. On the contrary, they pursue every thing that appears to dread them, particularly small dogs and children; and after having made these objects of their aversion scamper, they evince their pride and satisfaction by displaying their plumage, strutting among their female train, and uttering their peculiar note of self-approbation. Some instances, however, have occurred, in which the Turkey-cock has exhibited a considerable share of courage and prowess; as will appear from the following anecdote:-A gentleman of New York received from a distant part a Turkey-cock and hen, and with them a pair of bantams; which were put all together into the yard with his other poultry. Sometime afterward, as he was feeding them from the barn door, a large hawk suddenly turned the corner of the barn, and made a pounce at the bantam hen: she immediately gave the alarm, by a noise which is natural to her on such occasions; when the Turkey-cock, who was at the distance of about two yards, and without doubt understood the hawk's intention, flew at the tyrant with such violence, and gave him so severe a stroke with his spurs, as to knock him from the hen to a considerable distance; by which means the bantam was rescued from destruction.

The wild Turkey-cock is, in the American forests, an object of considerable interest. It perches on the tops of the cypress and magnolia.