448 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



the obstacles in its route. When it flies, the lateral tail-feathers are raised, and the 

 two spatules are brought together. A curious habit of this species is the following. 

 Two young males arrest themselves in the air facing each other with their bodies sus- 

 pended vertically, opening their tails from side to side, so that the lengthened rec- 

 trices form a straight line to the axis of the body, and throw themselves from one side 

 to the other. Every time the birds open their tails a low sound is heard similar to 

 that caused by striking two finger-nails together, or the snap produced by shutting 

 the lid of a watch. The two lengthened under tail-coverts always remain in their 

 normal position. This manoeuvre is kept up for about twenty seconds. Ordinarily 

 only two young males engage in these actions, but when they make much noise sev- 

 eral take part, and always the voice of the female can be heard in the vicinity. 

 Another still more curious habit, as narrated by Stolzmann, was practised by the 

 young males. One would suspend himself beneath a small branch, whilst another 

 manoeuvred above him, spreading the tail and making the low click ; then in a twink- 

 ling of an eye, the roles would be changed and the upper would suspend himself, and 

 the other would take his place. What these evolutions mean is unknown. The adult 

 males rarely practise them, though they often pass when the young males are engaged 

 in this manner. Sometimes the old males by spreading the tail give a peculiar posi- 

 tion to the external rectrices by placing the spatules above the head. Once Stolzmann 

 observed an adult male drinking from a brook. He had chosen a little cascade, and it 

 is from these alone that it is pretended the birds are able to quench their thirst. 

 The male of this extraordinary species has the crown of the head a brilliant sapphire 

 blue ; upper parts golden green; throat brilliant green, tinged with blue in the centre, 

 and surrounded by a narrow band of coppery-red, this bordered by black; sides of 

 breast and flanks dull white ; middle of breast velvet black with a coppery tinge. 

 The lengthened under tail-coverts are bronze green on their basal half, passing into a 

 blackish-blue, and white at their tips. Bill, black ; feet, brown ; tarsus covered with 

 white feathers ; iris, nearly black. 



The genera Steganura and Discura have together seven species, birds with lumi- 

 nous throats and breasts, and elongated external rectrices bare of webs near the tips, 

 and terminating in a spatule. The members of the first genus also have the tarsi 

 completely hidden in downy puffs. They dwell in various parts of South America, 

 all but two, however, being natives of the western side from Columbia to Bolivia. 

 Steganura solstitialis, from Ecuador and Peru, is found at altitudes of from 3700 to 

 8000 feet above the sea level. It is easy to be distinguished from other humming- 

 birds by its voice, as it possesses certain harmonious notes. It has a steady flight, and 

 does not precipitate itself from flower to flower with the suddenness so characteristic 

 of some of its relatives. When resting it perches on low branches, but when flying 

 it frequently rises to such a height that it is difficult to see it. 



Gouldia contains four species, remarkable for their singularly shaped tails, which 

 are composed of lengthened attenuated feathers, the three outer ones on either side 

 being the longest, although very unequal, and the four median ones being so short as 

 to be hardly visible. G. letitice is, in the coloring of its plumage, almost exactly like 

 Discura longicauda, but does not possess the spatules at the end of the external rectri- 

 ces. They are most charming little creatures, the heads and breasts covered with 

 metallic green feathers, this, in one species, bordered with red beneath the green on the 

 breast; and Gr.popelairii, from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, has the head ornamented 

 with a crest terminating in lengthened, hair-like feathers. 



