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THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. 263 tectors. In these we may also perceive the reason why an all-wise Providence has made this little hero an exception to a rule which prevails almost univer- sally through nature, — viz., that the smallest species of a tribe are most prolific. The eagle lays one, sometimes two, eggs ; the crow, five ; the titmouse, seven or eight ; the small European wren, fifteen ; the humming-bird, two ; and yet this latter is abun- dantly more numerous in America than the wren in Europe. "About the 25th of April, the humming-bird usually arrives in Pennsylvania ; and about the 1 0th of May begins to build its nest. This is generally fixed on the upper side of a horizontal branch, not among the twigs, but on the body of the branch it- self. Yet I have known instances where it was at- tached by the side to an old moss-grown trunk ; and others, where it was fastened on a strong rank stalk, or weed, in the garden ; but these cases are rare. In the woods it very often chooses a white oak sapling to build on ; and in the orchard, or garden, selects a pear-tree for that purpose. The branch is seldom more than ten feet from the ground. The nest is