for young minds, so she took her charge into the garden to look at the
flowerbeds, and watch the birds and butterflies; and soon the child was
gaily running from flower to flower, watching with childish interest the
insects flitting to and fro. At last she stopped, and holding up her finger
to warn Mrs. Frazer not to come too near, stood gazing in wonder and
admiration on a fluttering object that was hovering over the full-blown
honeysuckles on a trellis near the greenhouse. Mrs. Frazer approached her
with due caution.

"Nurse," whispered the child, "look at that curious moth with a long bill
like a bird; see its beautiful shining colours. It has a red necklace,
like mamma's rubies. Oh, what a curious creature! It must be a moth or a
butterfly. What is it?"

"It is neither a moth nor a butterfly, my dear. It is a humming-bird."

"Oh, nurse, a humming-bird--a real humming-bird--pretty creature! but it
is gone. Oh, nurse, it darts through the air as swift as an arrow. What
was it doing? Looking at the honeysuckles,--I dare say it thought them
very pretty; or was it smelling them? They are very sweet."

"My dear child, it might be doing so; I don't know. Perhaps the good God
has given to these creatures the same senses for enjoying sweet scents and
bright colours, as we have; yet it was not for the perfume, but the honey,
that this little bird came to visit the open flowers. The long slender
bill which the humming-bird inserts into the tubes of the flowers, is his
instrument for extracting the honey. Look at the pretty creature's ruby
throat, and green and gold feathers."

"How does it make that whirring noise, nurse, just like the humming of a