Donnie J. Beebe, age 11, of Portland, Ore., for his question:

DO HUMMINGBIRDS SING?

Courtship among the hummingbirds is an interesting thing to see. The male puts on a spectacular show that includes all kinds of acrobatic tricks performed in an effort to show off. With great speed, he will dive straight down from a considerable height, and then make a pass exceptionally close to his chosen mate who is perched on a limb of a tree and watching the show.

Hummingbirds aren't noted for their singing ability, but they do indeed have songs to sing. The sound is high pitched and nervous  nothing at all to brag about.

But hummingbirds have so many other good things going for them that they don't really need talent in the vocalizing department. For starters, they are the smallest birds in the world, some measuring only two and a quarter inches long.

There are about 380 different species of hummingbirds, with most of them living in the southern part of the New World. They especially enjoy humid lowlands and also thrive where the temperatures are extremely high.

Their plumage is definitely something to brag about. They have an iridescence that not many other birds enjoy. One variety, for example, is the ruby throated hummingbird, and he's a combination of white, green and black with red feathers on the throat that actually glow when the sun hits them.

When it's nest building time, mother does all of the work in nest construction, sitting on two pea size eggs and rearing the young. Father seems to have better things to do with his time and there is definitely no women's liberation here: The nest, by the way, is made of plant down and bud scales and held together with spider webs.

Hummingbirds eat small insects and also love nectar o_f flowers which they can drink by hovering helicopter like in front of colorful blossoms. For sucking nectar, the

hummingbird uses his needle like bill which is equipped with a long tongue shaped like a thread.

This skilled flyer can go forward or backward or stop s.till in the air, beating his wings at about 80 times per second. Even the best cameras have trouble stopping his tremendously rapid flying motion.

Largest member in the family is the Chilean giant hummingbird who is eight and a half inches long.