humming : Idioms & Phrases

(Zoöl.), any bird of the family Trochilidæ, of which over one hundred genera are known, including about four hundred species. They are found only in America and are most abundant in the tropics. They are mostly of very small size, and are not for their very brilliant colors and peculiar habit of hovering about flowers while vibrating their wings very rapidly with a humming noise. They feed both upon the nectar of flowers and upon small insects. The common humming bird or ruby-throat of the Eastern United States is Trochilus culubris. Several other species are found in the Western United States. See Calliope, and Ruby-throat.