138 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VIII. 



became almost too dark to distinguish them from my 

 stand. Three species regularly frequented the pool, and 

 three others occasionally visited it. The commonest was 

 the Thalurania venusta (Gould) , the male of which is a 

 most beautiful bird, the front of the head and shoulders 

 glistening purple, the throat brilliant light green, shining 

 in particular lights like polished metal, the breast blue, 

 and the back dark green. It was a beautiful sight to 

 see this bird hovering over the pool, turning from side to 

 side by quick jerks of its tail, now showing its throat a 

 gleaming emerald, now its shoulders a glistening amethyst, 

 then darting beneath the water, and rising instantly, 

 throw off a shower of spray from its quivering wings, 

 and again fly up to an overhanging bough and commence 

 to preen its feathers. All humming-birds bathe on the 

 wing, and generally take three or four dips, hovering, 

 between times, about three inches above the surface. 



Sometimes when the last-mentioned species was sus- 

 pended over the water, its rapidly vibrating wings look- 

 ing like a mere film, a white speck, like a snow-flake, 

 shot down the valley swift as the flight of an arrow, and 

 stopped suddenly over the pool, startling the emerald- 

 throat, and frightening it up amongst the overhanging 

 branches. The intruder was the white-cap (Microchera 

 parvirostris, Lawr.), the smallest of thirteen different 

 kinds of humming-birds that I noticed around Santo 

 Domingo ; being only a little more than two and a half 

 inches in length, including the bill ; but it was very pug- 

 nacious, and I have often seen it drive' some of the larger 

 birds away from a flowering tree. Its body is purplish-- 

 red, with green reflections, the front of its head flat, and 

 pearly white, and, when flying towards one, its white 



