346 TROCHILIDA. 
prickles of the fruit, the whole structure being thus held firmly in its place; this nest 
was very shallow, not being subject to oscillation by wind. Another nest was in a 
coffee-tree. The third was placed on the upper shoots of a dahlia which grew in the 
garden of the house. The hen bird seemed to have the entire duty of rearing the 
young, as no male ever approached the nest. When the hen was sitting she would 
allow an observer to go quite close and even to hold the branch still from being swayed 
by the wind without evincing any alarm. But it was only when a hot sun was shining 
that she would allow so close an inspection; on dull and rainy days four or five yards 
was the nearest approach permitted. After being disturbed she would soon return, 
bringing a small piece of lichen in her bill, which, after settling in her nest, she 
would attach to the outside. When sitting, the whole cavity of the nest was filled with 
her puffed-out feathers, the wings, except their tips, being entirely concealed by the 
feathers of the back. When the young were first hatched they looked little black 
shapeless things with long necks and hardly any bill; they soon, however, grew and 
entirely filled the nest. The old bird was never observed to sit after the young were 
hatched; she seemed to leave them alike in sun and rain. When feeding them she 
would stand on the edge of the nest with her body nearly upright. One of the young 
ones first flew on 15th October. It was standing on the edge of the nest and, being 
alarmed, attempted to fly, but fell amongst the flowers below ; on being replaced in the 
nest it essayed again to fly, nothing daunted by its first failure—the second time with 
better success, for it flew over a wall close by and settled on a tree on the other side. 
The same day the old bird was seen feeding it, and it was observed to fly again with 
increased vigour to an orange-tree, where it tried at first to rest on one of the fruit, but 
failing, found a more fitting perch on the edge of a leaf. It was not seen again. The 
other young one flew two days later. 
The down of the seeds of the willow and bulrush are favourite materials for the lining 
of tlie nest of D. enicura, whilst lichen is freely used outside. 
Willow trees grow plentifully near Duefias, especially on the borders of the lake. 
About the latter males were sometimes noticed to congregate in some numbers; but 
the special attraction to these trees was not apparent. 
2. Doricha elize. 
Trochilus eliza, Less. & Delattre, Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 20°. 
Thaumastura elize, Gould, Mon. Troch. iii. t. 155 (May 1857) *; de Oca, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1860, p. 552°; 
La Nat. iii. p. 17, t. —*. 
Doricha elize, Gould, Intr. Troch. p. 94°; Boucard, Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyon, xxii. p. 22°; P. ZS. 
1883, p. 451"; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 157°; Salv. Ibis, 1889, p. 365 °; 
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 382”. 
Supra nitenti-aureo-viridis ; capite summo obscuriore: subtus gula micanti-rosaceo-rubra, plaga infra oculos 
fusca, pectore albo, abdomine medio et tectricibus subcaudalibus albidis, hypochondriis aureo-viridi 
lavatis; caude rectricibus quatuor mediis dorso concoloribus, reliquis (tribus utrinque) purpureo-nigris, 
