Among the most dazzling of this brilliant tribe is the bar-tailed humming bird of Brazil. The tail is forked at the base, and consists of five feathers, graduated one above another, at almost equal distances. Their color is of the richest flame; the upper part of the body is golden green, and the under part emerald.
There are more than a hundred kinds of these birds, and all are noted for their surpassing beauty. What a beautiful conception in the author of nature were these exquisite little creatures! It is as if the flowers had taken wings, and life, and intelligence, to share in the sports of animal life.
NESTS OF THE BOTTLE BIRD.
The nest of the golden-crested wren, a most beautiful bird found in England and other parts of Europe, is a fine example of weaving. It is made of moss and lichen, and lined with feathers; it has a very small entrance at the top and the interior of the nest is also small, bearing no proportion to the size of the structure. The weaving of this nest is a work of great labor and assiduity, and compared with the bulk of the bird, it is of large dimensions.
NESTS OF SOCIAL WEAVERS.
The nest is suspended from the under surface of a fir branch, thickly clothed with foliage, by which it is almost entirely concealed and partly protected from the rain. Thus, beneath a natural canopy, this little bird rears her brood, whose cradle swings to and fro with every breeze. The eggs are from seven to ten in number, and of a pale brown color.
A naturalist who watched a nest containing eight small birds with a powerful opera glass, observed that the parent birds came to the nest with food every two minutes, or upon an average thirty-six times in an hour; and this continued full sixteen hours a day, which, if equally
divided between the brood, each would receive seventy-two feeds, the whole amounting to five hundred and seventy-six!