w to the very
edge of the snow fields and sipped the most delicious nectar from the
white wax-like flowers that grew on their moist border.

"It was a life of freedom and movement. Not a moment of inactive
discontent; to dart with the speed of an arrow but pursue as variant a
course as fancy dictated; from twig top to field, feeding upon honeyed
nectar and small insects which also loved the flowers and fed upon their
sweets. Not perching in sluggish dumbness at the place of feeding but
hovering in a fragrant flowery world over the red or white or blue
corolla cloth of an ever changing dinner service, leading all the while
a life of intense movement, to pass as a bar of light, to stop and rest
and as suddenly depart.

"There is a flash of green, red and purplish light, as the iridescence
of the purest gem. Was it the airplane of a fairy passing by that gave
forth all those gorgeous hues, or had an angel in passing from heaven to
earth dropped a jewel from his crown? I saw no wings in motion, but I
have grown to know and love the sound I heard; 'tis Sir Knight returning
from one of his excursions.

"He alights, and preening his feathers a second, the while humming a
little love ditty comes very close and whispers; 'Love, will you be
mine?' And the answer is so low that nothing but a humming bird may
hear.

"So we leave the twig and skimming over field and rill come into a land
of flowers; and many of them are such flowers as I had just gathered.

"No longer alone, we mingle with the bees and butterflies and many
insects and others of our kind, all intent upon a breakfast of honey dew
freshly garnered and served each morning; and such a service! The very
air is alive with the gathering; our ears are deafened by the whistling
sounds of flight, from a plaintiff treble to a resonant bass, mingled
with cries of joy and greeting and quarrelsome chatter. It is the
chit-chat of the insect world.

"My mate on vibrant invisible wing is immovably suspended in a near
vertical position over a large bell white corolla, while I feast from a
platter with a scarlet border and a golden center.

"Ye men who would learn to fly, take the humming bird for instructor;
and be taught that the most powerful flight is not given to breadth of
wing but to swiftness of motion or vibration; and in watching Sir Knight
poised above a flower you may solve the mystery of a suspended flight.

"Finally we fix upon the place to build the nest, on a l