UNIT8

1	Did you ever see a tiny bird flying around some flowers in the summertime?  Did its wings move so fast that you couldnft even see them?  That little bird was a hummingbird, the smallest bird of all.
2	There are 320 different kinds of hummingbirds in the world, and they all live in North America or South America.  The tiniest hummingbird is only as long as your finger!  But its biggest cousin is almost as big as a robin.  This giant hummingbird lives in South America.  Most hummingbirds that live in the United States and Canada are about four inches or 10 cm long.  They have feathers of many colors, and when they fly around flowers, they look almost like flowers that have learned to fly.  You may have seen a ruby-throated hummingbird, with its red throat and shiny green back, flying in a park or garden.
3	Flying is what hummingbirds do best.  They even got their name from the sound they make when they fly.  Their wings beat so fast that they make the air hum.  A hummingbird must move its wings all the time when it is in the air.  It canft glide on the air the way some birds can.  But it can do two things that no other bird can do.  It can fly in one place, like a helicopter, and it can fly backwards.  So, the hummingbird is the king of the fliers.
4	Flying makes hummingbirds hungry.  They spend all day drinking nectar from flowers.  They make their long tongues into tubes and suck the nectar as you would suck juice through a straw.  For snacks, they eat insects as they fly.  Every day a hummingbird must eat sixty meals to give it energy to fly!  So, the little king of the fliers is the king of the eaters too.
