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 HUMMEL HUMMING BIRD 49 At the outbreak of the Mahratta war he was attached to the army, and upon a sudden emergency officiated as Persian interpreter with so much efficiency, that he was appointed to that office permanently. At the same time he was at the head of the medical staff 1, and for long periods acted as paymaster, post- master, prize agent, and commissary general. These employments brought him reputation and emoluments; and in 1808 he was able to retire from professional life, and to return to England with a considerable fortune. For several years he devoted himself to travel and study. In January, 1812, he was for a valuable consideration returned to the house of com- mons for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis, commencing his political career as a tory. Before the parliament was dissolved, in the succeeding July, he opposed a ministerial mea- sure for the relief of the Nottingham frame- work knitters, on the ground that the masters would be thereby so much injured that the workmen would be reduced to a worse state than before. This so alarmed the conservative patrons of his borough that at the next elec- tion they refused him a seat, although he had bargained for a second return. This proceeding probably opened the eyes of the new member to the evils of the borough system, for, although oifered seats from other boroughs, he refused to enter parliament again except as a perfectly free member, a contingency which did not oc- cur for several years. During this interval he busied himself with a variety of projects for the improvement of the laboring classes ; but his chief efforts were directed against the abuses of the East India direction. In Janu- ary, 1819, he reentered parliament as a radical member for the Aberdeen district of burghs, comprehending his native town, Montrose. He continued to represent the Scotch burghs till 1830, when he was returned unopposed as one of the members for Middlesex. In 1837 he was defeated, but was immediately returned through the interest of Mr. O'Connell for Kil- kenny, which he represented till 1841, when he was an unsuccessful candidate for the town of Leeds. In the succeeding year he offered himself once more to the electors of Montrose, in whose service he died. His legislative zeal and labors were hardly equalled by those of the most eminent of his contemporaries. He urged reforms in every department of gov- ernment ; and he lived to see the adoption of almost every important measure which he had advocated. In 1859 a statue of him was erect- ed in his native town. HUMMEL, Johann IVepomnk, a German compo- ser, born in Presbnrg, Hungary, Nov. 17, 1778, died at Weimar, Oct. 17, 1837. At seven years of age he showed so much talent that Mozart assumed the direction of his musical studies. Later he received lessons in harmony, accom- paniment, and counterpoint from Albrechts- berger, and valuable suggestions from Salieri. In 1803 he entered the service of Prince Ester- hazy, and composed his first mass, which won the approval of Haydn. From 1811 to 1816 he taught at Vienna, and after that was suc- cessively chapelmaster to the king of Wurtem- burg and the grand duke of Saxe-Weimar. He made many tours through Germany, France, Great Britain, and Russia, winning renown as a pianist. He excelled as a pianist, improvisa- tor, and composer. His improvisations were remarkable for their originality and brilliancy, and were so carefully worked out as to have all the character of finished compositions. He took high rank as a composer, but it was un- fortunate for his reputation that he was the contemporary of Beethoven, by whose genius he was overshadowed. He composed for the stage, the church, and the concert room. His compositions of the first class consist of ope- ras, pantomimes, and ballets ; of the second, of three masses for voice, organ, and orchestra. The third class is the most numerous, consist- ing of concerted pieces for various instruments, trios, quartets, quintets, and septets, with many works for the piano alone. He wrote also a complete pianoforte method, which in spite of its many merits has been superseded by later works in stricter relation to the requirements of modern art. Hl'MMIM BIRD, the common name of a large family (trochilidoe) of beautiful slender-billed birds, found in America and its adjacent islands. There are three subfamilies, grypina or wedge- tailed humming birds, lamporninas or curved- billed humming birds, and trochilince or straight-billed humming birds. The most bril- liant species live in the tropical forests, amid the rich drapery of the orchids, whose mag- nificent blossoms rival the beauty of the birds themselves. As we leave the tropics their numbers decrease, and but a few species are found within the limits of the United States, some however reaching as high as lat. 57 N. In whatever latitude, their manners are the same ; very quick and active, almost constantly on the wing, as they dart in the bright sun they display their brilliant colors. When hovering over a flower in which they are feeding, their wings are moved so rapidly that they become invisible, causing a humming sound, whence their common name, their bodies seeming sus- pended motionless in the air. They rarely alight on the ground, but perch readily on branches; bold and familiar, they frequent gardens in thickly settled localities, even en- tering rooms, and flitting without fear near passers by ; they are very pugnacious, and will attack any intruder coming near their nests. The nest is delicate but compact, and lined with the softest vegetable downs ; it is about an inch in diameter, and the same in depth, and placed on trees, shrubs, and reeds. The eggs, one or two in number, average about one half by one third of an inch, and are generally of a white color, and hatched in 10 or 12 days. It is very difficult to keep these birds in cages; but they have been kept in