ing-bird!
So fairy-like and bright
It lives among the sunny flowers,--
A creature of delight!

"'In the radiant islands of the East,
Where fragrant spices grow,
A thousand thousand humming-birds
Are glancing to and fro!'"

"Oh! how beautiful they must be!" exclaimed Herbert, pausing in the
reading. "How delightful it must be to visit foreign countries! Only
think of 'a thousand thousand humming-birds!'"

[Illustration: HERBERT AND HIS COUSINS.

_Page 74._]

"Do you know," said Grace, "when I was a little thing, I used to lie
awake at night and think of all the different animals and birds and
fishes there are in the world, till I declare I got so frightened I
used to scream out. Nurse used to call it the nightmare; but it was no
such thing. I wish I could have thought of only the humming-birds--it
would have been lovely."

"Cheer up, Sam!" sung Mrs. Polly from her perch, in a very pathetic
voice, which set the children laughing heartily; for somehow, as Minnie
said, Polly always knew how to bring in her wise sayings just when they
were wanted,--and there was no doubt she was the very cleverest parrot
that ever lived.

It was during the visit his cousins paid Herbert, that the great macaw
arrived from Uncle James; and Herbert was delighted to find he was not a
wild specimen, as he had supposed, but quite an educated one. They
called him the "Great Mogul;" but though he was tamed, he had learned
so many bad words from the sailors, that Herbert thought it would be
better to keep him separate from Mrs. Polly and the cockatoo till he had
forgotten them. He was a very greedy bird, and ate so fast that he was
constantly dropping the best parts in his hurry to get some more. Dash,
a little terrier belonging to Herbert's cousins, was not long in finding
this out; and whenever he saw the boys feeding the parrots, off he would
go and seat himself at the foot of the perch. He used to sit up and beg
all the time, and evidently thought the pieces were thrown down to him
out of pure good-nature; for he was always exceedingly polite to the
parrots, and when he heard them shrieking at sight of the cats, would
bark and drive them away.

[Illustration: THE "GREAT MOGUL."

_Page 78._]

"I can't say I admire the appearance of the 'Great Mogul,'" said
Charley laughing; "he has such ugly bare cheeks."

"Oh! but look at his beautiful tail; and could anything be more
beautiful than those scarlet fe