tribes, on account of the extreme smallness of its size, several of the species, of which there are about seventy, not being larger than a common humble bee, or an ordinary-sized hazel nut. The surpassing richness of its plumage, the gorgeousness of which oriental queens might envy; the extreme rapidity of its flight, compared with which "the tempest itself lags behind," and the eye is too weak to pursue it; the extreme delicacy of its food, subsisting, during the summer especially, chiefly on the honey that it extracts from the flowers, among which it delights to wander; all these are striking characteristics of the hummingbird, and conspire to make it, notwithstanding its smallness, an object of universal attention and admiration.

The humming-bird has its name from the sound of its wings as it passes through the air, or from flower to flower. Its flight greatly resembles that of the humble bee; but the bee appears a mere loiterer, a worse than a drone in comparison of the bird. The bird is, indeed, sometimes assaulted by the humble bee, which it very soon puts to inglorious flight. The courage of the little creature is as remarkable as its other qualities; carrying about with it a great soul, or rather a high spirit in its little body. When two males meet, in the same bush, or upon the same flower, the world is not wide enough for them; for a fight instantly takes place, and the combatants ascend into the air, chirping, darting, and circling around each other till the eye is unable to follow them. When the battle ceases, the conqueror returns to the contested flower, and sips the honey that his victory has obtained. From the pigmy size and hasty flight of the humming-bird, it is not so much exposed as the larger birds, to the attacks of rapacious birds and beasts. But every creature in the world has its enemies! Oh! what evils has sin introduced into the world! Not only has it sown the seeds of discord and division, enmity, war, and bloodshed among the sinners themselves, but those effects of the fall are extended to every creature, the most minute, as well as the most stupendous! So if the humming-bird is free, generally, from the ravages of rapacious birds and beasts, (for what temptation could a bird, scarcely so large as the end of one's little finger, offer to an eagle or a cat?) yet there are found enemies among the insect tribes that catch it and suck its blood. The formidable American spider, according to the crafty genius of its nation, though it would not pretend to catch the humming-bird in its hasty flight, creeps slyly near, and springs upon the innocent bird whilst sitting in its nest, and eggs and dam all fall a prey to the devourer. The spider itself being three inches in length, one and a half in breadth, and eleven inches in the expansion of its legs, is not inferior in size, but much superior in

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strength to the bird upon which it pounces and preys. The way in which our common spiders spring upon their prey, that has been entangled in the cobweb, may give us some faint idea of the agility and power of that species of which we are writing. The humming-bird is three inches and a half in length, and four and a quarter in extent. The back, upper part of the neck, sides and tail coverts, and two middle feathers of the tail, are of a rich golden hue; the tail is forked, and, with the wings, is of a deep brownish purple; the bill and eyes are black, as are its tiny legs and feet; the bill is straight and slender; the nostrils are two small oblong slits, scarcely perceptible when the bird is dead, but very prominent while alive; the belly is dusky white, mixed with green; but, what constitutes the chief ornament of this little creature, is the splendour of the feathers of its throat, which, in their proper position, glow with all the brilliancy of the ruby. These feathers are of singular strength and texture, lying close together as scales, and varying, when moved before the eye, from a deep black to a fiery crimson or burning orange. The female is destitute of this ornament, but differs little, in other respects, from the male. Though, as we have noticed, this beautiful class of birds comprehends about seventy, all of which are found on the American continent or islands, yet not more than one species visits the United States, where it is migratory. The nest of this little bird is about an inch in diameter, and as much in depth. The outward coating of the nest is formed of small pieces of moss, glued together with the saliva of the birds; the interior consists of layers of the fine down of flying seeds, closely matted together, the downy substance from the great mullein and from the stalks of the common fern. The base of the nest is continued round the stem of the branch on which it is placed, and, when viewed from below, appears only a mossy knot or slight protuberance. The eggs are two, pure white, and of equal thickness at each end; they are about the size of a pea, and the newly-hatched young are said to be not much larger than a blue-bottled fly.

The humming-bird is a universal favourite; and with the early dawn of morn, after the sun has risen upon the sweet dewy serenity of a summer's day, these beautiful little flutterers begin to embellish the scene by flying from flower to flower, whilst a kind of humming noise is produced by the peculiarly swift motion of their flight. They are extremely fond of tubular flowers, amongst which the trumpet flower is conspicuous. When arrived before a thicket of these that are full blown, the bird poises himself on the wing for two or three seconds, so steadily, that his wings become invisible, or only like a mist; the glossy golden green of his back, and the fiery red of his throat, dazzling

in the sun, form a most interesting appearance. He suspends himself upon the wing while he thrusts his long and tubular tongue into the flowers, in search of food. He sometimes enters the drawing-room through the open window, drawn by the scent, or sight of a bouquet of flowers, and sometimes takes refuge in a hot-house, during the cool nights of autumn, to enjoy its warmth, and regale upon its flowery sweets.

The humming-bird has been supposed to feed wholly on the liquid sweets it extracts from flowers, but more accurate information has decided that it feeds on insects also. Mr. Wilson, to whom we are so largely indebted, says, that he has seen the humming-bird for half an hour at a time darting at groups of insects that dance in the air on a summer's evening, retiring to an adjoining twig for a moment, and renewing the attack with a dexterity that sets all other flycatchers at defiance. The same gentleman observes, that the visit of the birds to the flowers is as often for the insects secreted in them as for the honey found there. Mr. Caffer, of Fairfax county, raised and kept two humming-birds for some months in a cage, feeding them with honey dissolved in water, upon which they readily fed. As the sweetness of the liquid frequently brought small flies and gnats about the cage and cup, the birds snapped at them on the wing, and swallowed them with eagerness. Others have been kept by being fed on loaf sugar, dissolved in water, which they preferred to honey and water; whilst fresh flowers, sprinkled with the liquid, were brought them every morning. Their enclosure was of fine gauze, to keep the birds from injuring themselves or plumage. So kept and fed, they appeared gay and active as in their native liberty and woods, expressed by their motions and chirping, when the fresh supply of flowers reached them. The note of the bird is a single chirp, not louder than that of a small cricket or grasshopper, and generally uttered in its flight or contests. The whole history of this diminutive creature is full of interest among the ever-varying works of a wonder-working GOD.-Tyler.

PLAIN THOUGHTS ON THE MYSTERY OF THE

INCARNATION.

THE mystery which at this season we celebrate is that of the Incarnation, which means "GOD manifest in the Flesh.”

Now a mystery being something which we cannot understand or explain, the great mysteries of our faith are to believed in and adored: they are not to be explained, or made clear by

human reasoning. We should think of them with reverence and caution, remembering that the Most High God hath said, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isa. lv. 9. We adore the mystery of the Incarnation, when we pray in the Litany,

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By the mystery of Thy holy Incarnation, Good LORD, deliver us."

Or when, in repeating the Nicene Creed, we say,

"And was Incarnate by the HOLY GHOST of the Virgin Mary; and was made Man."

At this part of the Creed, the early Christians were wont to fall on their knees, to show their deep reverence for the mystery there proclaimed, and that they received and believed it. For they received "all the articles of the Christian faith," and this of the Incarnation is one, and they believed that through it their salvation had been wrought. GOD "was made Man :" GOD the SON, the "King of Glory," the "LORD of Lords," left His Kingdom and His Glory, and took the form of a little helpless infant, and was born of a Virgin, and bore the weakness and pains of infancy, and its humiliations and sufferings.

Have you ever really reflected that it was GOD Who lay in the Blessed Virgin's arms, motionless and speechless, yet knowing all things? Able with a word to return to His glory, yet willing to bear this most lowly condition for our sake; powerful to create worlds, yet living on from day to day, from year to year, in poverty, shame, contempt, far beyond what we can conceive, and this for the sole end of our salvation. For it pleased GOD the SON to take man's nature upon Him, to be born, to suffer, to die: it pleased GOD the FATHER "in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings;" (Heb. ii. 10): it pleased GOD the HOLY GHOST to co-operate with the will of the other Persons of the Blessed TRINITY; and thus the mystery of the Incarnation was perfected; it began in the stable at Bethlehem; it had its completion on Calvary.

Our LORD could have created new and bright creatures who had never sinned, to fill our places in heaven; this was not His loving Will. He saw our misery and wretchedness; He knew that we must suffer endless years of punishment for our sins, that generation after generation must be born stained and defiled unto the end of time, and all share the same condemnation and He had compassion upon us.

There was but one way to save us. For, as GOD is just, there must be atonement for sin; as GOD is holy, so without holiness none shall see His face; as Heaven is pure, nothing

defiled shall enter therein. There was but one way to make us bright, pure, holy, like the angels; our nature was foul, a new nature must be given us. This one way, then, our LORD, in His infinite compassion, condescended to design, undertake, and accomplish, "by the mystery of His holy Incarnation, by His holy Nativity and Circumcision, by His Baptism, Fasting, and Temptation, by His Agony and Bloody Sweat, by His Cross and Passion, by His precious Death and Burial, by His glorious Resurrection and Ascension."

These are all glorious mysteries: each in its turn is believed, adored, proclaimed by the Church, daily in her creed, yearly in the season belonging to each, or set apart for its celebration. That we may derive profit therefrom, let us remember what we are taught by the doctrine of the Incarnation.

It teaches us not only that our LORD "was made Man," but man of the flesh of a pure Virgin, by the overshadowing of the HOLY SPIRIT, and so without sin.

That, by thus uniting our nature to His Godhead, He sanctified it, and gave it back the place in the Divine favour which had been forfeited by Adam's fall.

That by this ineffable union He made His Church one with Him, and so it is called in Holy Scripture His " Body."

That this union with Him is begun in our Baptism, which joins us to Him, and His Divine Nature lives in us, and grows in us, and is strengthened in us by the HOLY SPIRIT, and received into us by participation in the ordinances of the Church, and especially in the blessed Sacrament of His Body and Blood.

That our bodies and souls thus being engrafted into Him, our bodies will dwell in Heaven with Him, as well as our souls; being first purified and made fit to share His glory.

That this purification is the object and end of our life on earth.

That we are therefore bound to serve, obey, sanctify, and honour Him, in our bodies as well as in our souls. And

Lastly, that by this union with His holy humanity, i. e., by our having been baptized into it, and so made partakers of it, and sharing in all the privileges it confers upon us, and in the channels of grace which flow to us in virtue of it, we are able, if we do not wickedly despise our birthright, and cut ourselves off from membership with His Church, to lead such a of grace" here as shall bring us to the "life of glory" hereafter.

"life

W.