第7章 THE HUMMING-BIRD (I) 蜂鸟（一）

Under the shade of a tree, at the end of one of the twigs, hangs a tiny little nest. It swings in the air, and is as light as a feather; for it is made chiefly of moss and down. It is very snug; and within it lie two tiny eggs, of the size of peas, and as white as snow.

Watch a moment, and we shall see what bird it is that has built the nest;for she has only gone to have a sip of honey. It is a lovely place to watch in. Flowers scent the air. Yonder is a deep wood; and strange flowers of every shape and size grow all about. Some are like monkeys, some like bees, some like butterflies. These flowers are called orchids. They grow in England, only not nearly so large as in warm countries.

Hark! the bird is coming. It is the smallest bird in the whole world. Its body is no bigger than a hazel-nut. But its feathers are more lovely than I can describe. It has a green crest on its head, which sparkles like a little star. The colours on its body are green, and gold, and purple. You can scarcely tell where one ends and another begins.

If you look about, you will see more of these little creatures. They are called humming-birds, and live in hot countries, —in India, as well as in America. The woods and groves are alive with them. They flash about here and there, clad in all the colours of the rainbow. The eye is never tired of watching them.

The humming-bird in the picture is sitting on its eggs, to hatch its young ones. When the mother bird is tired, her mate comes and takes her place. Then up she springs, and darts away into the woods, where she chooses some flower that has honey in it.

As she hovers in the air, she moves her wings about so quickly that you can hardly see them. Her wings make a humming sound as she hovers over the flower; and it is from this that she gets her name.

But she is thinking now about the insects. There are a great many of these, hidden at the bottom of the flower. She soon spies them out, and she darts her long tongue into the midst of them. Some insects stick to it; for the tongue is sticky, as if it had been rubbed with glue. The insects are drawn into her mouth; she swallows them, and then darts out her tongue for more.

All this time, she is hovering over the flower, and humming with her wings. When she has had enough of insects, she sips a little honey, and flies back to her nest.

Questions

Of what is the nest of the humming-bird made? Where does it hang? What is the size of the bird? In what kind of countries do they live? What is the humming-bird in the picture doing? Who takes her place when she is tired? What causes the humming? What do these birds feed upon?

Pronunciation

feath'-er monk'-eys scarce'-ly rain'-bow hid'-den

chief'-ly but'-ter-flies crea'-tures pic'-ture swal'-lows

flow'-ers or'-chids col'-ours quick'-ly e-nough'

Write

scent quickly insects

scarcely watching enough

butterflies creatures hovering

在树荫之下，一条细树枝的末端挂着一个小小的鸟巢。因为这个鸟巢主要是用苔藓和鸟的绒毛做成的，因此它像羽毛一般轻轻地在风中摇摆。鸟巢非常温暖舒适，里面有两个小小的、状如豌豆、白似雪花的鸟蛋。

观察一阵子，我们就会发现这个巢是什么鸟筑的，因为这鸟巢的主人只有在啜饮花蜜的时候才会出去。往里面看看，就会发现这个鸟巢非常漂亮。空气中弥漫着鲜花的味道。远处是一片深林，里面长满了奇花异草。这些花有的长得像猴子，有的像蜜蜂，有的像蝴蝶。他们生长于英格兰，都属于兰科植物，但是不如温暖气候的国家的兰花大。

听！鸟儿回来了。它是世界上最小的鸟，身体还不如一个榛子大，但是它的羽毛却美得让我难以描绘。它头上的冠是绿色的，像小星星一样闪闪发光。它身上的羽毛是绿色、金黄色和紫色夹杂在一起的，这三种颜色的界限难以区分出来。

如果你往四周看看，就会发现更多的这种小生命。这种鸟叫作蜂鸟，生活在印度、美洲等炎热的国家和地区。它们在树林和果园中穿梭，迅捷地飞来飞去，仿佛披着七色的彩虹，让你永远都看不够。

图片中的这只蜂鸟正在孵蛋。当母鸟累了的时候，公鸟就会过来替代她，然后母鸟一跃而出，飞入树林，去啜吸花蜜。

当她在空中盘旋的时候，翅膀拍动得飞快，因而你几乎都看不到它的翅膀。蜂鸟在花上徘徊的时候，翅膀会发出嗡嗡声，它也因此而得名。

但是，这只母蜂鸟现在想要的是昆虫。昆虫有很多，它们藏在花的底部。母蜂鸟很快就把昆虫找了出来，然后迅速将长长的舌头伸向这些昆虫。因为她的舌头是有黏性的，好像擦了胶水一样，所以一些昆虫就被粘住了。然后，她把这些昆虫卷入嘴中，吞下它们，接着又开始用它的舌头捕捉更多的昆虫。

在捕食的过程当中，她一直在花中盘旋，翅膀嗡嗡作响。她在捕捉完足够的昆虫后，就喝一点儿花蜜，飞回巢中了。