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The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backward.
He can fly straight up and down and sideways, too.
He can even fly when he is upside down!
And perhaps strangest of all,
He can fly without going anywhere.
He is like a tiny helicopter.
Hummingbirds are the smallest birds in the world.
There are many kinds, and they are all beautiful.
They are like jewels with wings.
Though they are tiny, they are brave!
A hummingbird seems to know
That his enemies cannot catch him.
He will fight anything.
He can even scare a hawk!
A hummingbird eats 50 or 60 meals a day.
He flashes from flower to flower.
He sticks his long bill into a flower and sips the nectar.
The sugar in nectar gives
The little birds their great strength and energy.
The ruby-throated hummingbird needs
All the strength and energy he can get.
For every winter this hummingbird makes an amazing flight.
First he eats and eats to store up food.
He gets quite fat.
Then he leaves home.
Off he flies for days and days.
He flies 500 miles across the ocean to get to a warm place.
No one knows how small a bird
Can fly so far without food or rest.
But the ruby-throat does it every year.
Bigger birds can fly farther.
But the ruby-throat is less than 8cm long.
Our friend the ostrich is the biggest bird.
He is a good walker and great runner.
But he cannot fly at all.
It is strange that the smallest bird flies everywhere.
Even to move 2cm he flies.
He cannot walk.
He does not have to.
He can get there faster with those wonderful wings!
On the sandy grasslands of Africa
Lives the world's biggest bird.
It is the ostrich.
Some ostriches grow to be 1.83 m tall.
They all have long thin necks.
They all have long strong legs.
And very strange birds they are.
The biggest birds in the world cannot fly.
Zebras and antilopes like to walk along with the ostriches.
The ostrich is so tall
That it is easy for him to watch out for enemies
And he also has a keen sense of hearing!
When an ostrich sees an enemy, he runs.
This tells the antelopes and the zebras
That they should run, too.
Ostriches can run fast.
An enemy might never catch
And ostrich if he did not do a strange thing.
Often he just runs around in big circles.
If he is caught, he fights.
He fights with his feet.
He can kill and enemy with one kick!
With their acute eyesight and hearing,
Ostriches can sense predators such as lions from far away.
When being pursued by a predator,
They have been known to reach speeds in excess of 70 km/h,
And can maintain a steady speed of 50 km/h,
Which makes the Ostrich the world's fastest two-legged animal!
The ostrich does not fight his friends,
The zebra and the antelope.
They kick up many small animals and insects for him.
These things the ostrich likes to eat!
It mainly feeds on seeds,
Shrubs, grass, and other plant matter;
Occasionally it also eats insects such as locusts.
The female ostrich is not as big as the male.
Nor is she as pretty.
She is sandy-gray.
Her color helps to hide her when she sits
On her eggs in the sand.
Many ostriches use the same nest.
There may be 20 of their huge eggs in one nest.
A female sits on the eggs if the day is cold.
At night the male sits on the eggs.
There is a story that the ostriches
Bury their heads in the sand
To hide from their enemy.
Ostriches would never do such a silly thing!
They may rest their heads in the sand
While they are hatching eggs.
Then it is not easy for them to see their enemy.
Maybe they hope an enemy can't see them.
