. Little folks in feathers and fur, and others in neither. r or anything else can getout of their way. A little spider may sit in the middle of the webwaiting for some unwary fly to come along, and in the very nextsecond, before he knows whats the matter, he may be a prisonerin the stomach of a humming bird, his web left all stretched, witheven the dew on it undisturbed. Mr. Webber, a naturalist who studied these little creatures*with great interest, and who caught and tamed a good many of IN FEATHERS AND FUR, 121 them, found that after a week or two they would droop, and seemabout to die. The
. Little folks in feathers and fur, and others in neither. r or anything else can getout of their way. A little spider may sit in the middle of the webwaiting for some unwary fly to come along, and in the very nextsecond, before he knows whats the matter, he may be a prisonerin the stomach of a humming bird, his web left all stretched, witheven the dew on it undisturbed. Mr. Webber, a naturalist who studied these little creatures*with great interest, and who caught and tamed a good many of IN FEATHERS AND FUR, 121 them, found that after a week or two they would droop, and seemabout to die. Then he would let them out, and they would dart offfor a few hours, always coming back, however. On watching themvery closely he found that they spent the time in hunting spiders,and after one good meal of them, they were ready to return tohoney diet for another two weeks. The bill of the Humming Bird is a very curious thing. In eachvariety it is shaped to suit the flower on which it feeds. Thussome are long and straight, others are gently curved, and still. others curved almost into the shape of a sickle. Every kind, how-ever, is pointed at the end. The tongue is stranger still—it is very 122 LITTLE FOLKS long, and double nearly to the base. It can be thrust out ever sofar beyond the bill, and no drop of honey, and no tiny insect, how-ever well hidden in a deep flower, can escape that tongue. The nest of the Humming Bird is as wonderful as everythingabout him. It is generally made of soft and woolly substances,coated on the outside with bits of lichen or moss to make it looklike the twig on which it is built. So well is it done, that it hasoften been mistaken for a small knot. Some of the family hangtheir cozy nests to the end of a leaf, as you see in the picture, andthere they rock with every breeze, in their home not made biggerthan a thimble. Mamma Humming Bird lays two small white eggs, about thesize of a bean, and in ten days the little ones are hatched. Theresanother thin
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublishe, booksubjectzoology
