West Indies, 475 



serves perusal. In amplification of humming-bird history, we 

 here present, from Waterton's Wanderings in South America, 

 an extract which has lain some time by us. — J, Z).] 



" The humming-bird, though least in size, yet, from its 

 glittering mantle, is entitled to the first place in the list of the 

 birds of the New World. It may be truly called the bird 

 of paradise ; and, had it existed in the Old World, it would 

 have claimed the tide, instead of the bird which has now the 

 honour to bear it. See it darting through the air almost as 

 quick as thought ! now it is within a yard of your face ! in an 

 instant gone ! now it flutters from flower to flower, to sip the 

 silver dew : it is now a ruby, now a topaz, now an emerald, 

 now all burnished gold ! It would be arrogant to pretend to 

 describe this winged gem of nature, after BufFon's elegant 

 description of it. Cayenne and Demerara produce the same 

 hunnning-birds. Perhaps you would wish to know something 

 of their haunts. Chiefly in the months of July and August, 

 the tree called Bois Immortel, very common in Demerara, 

 bears abundance of red blossoms, which stay on the tree for 

 some weeks ; then it is that most of the different species of 

 humming-birds are very plentiful. The wild red sage [^Salvia 

 splendens Ker, perhaps. — J. DJ] is also their favourite shrub, 

 and they buzz like bees round the blossom of the wallaba tree. 

 Indeed, there iS scarce a flower in the interior or on the sea- 

 coast but what receives frequent visits from one or other of 

 the species. On entering the forests, on the rising land in 

 the interior, the blue and green, the smallest brown (no bigger 

 than the humble bee, with two long feathers in the tail), and 

 the little forked-tail purple-throated humming-birds glitter 

 before you in ever-changing attitudes. One species alone 

 never shows his beauty to the sun ; and were it not for his 

 lovely shining colours, you might almost be tempted to class 

 him with the goatsuckers, on account of his habits. He is 

 the largest of all the humming-birds, and is all red and chang- 

 ing gold green, except the head, which is black. He has two 

 long feathers in the tail, which cross each other ; and these 

 having gained him the name of Karabimiti, or Ara humming- 

 bird, from the Indians. You never find him on the sea-coast, 

 or where the river is salt, or in the heart of the forest, unless 

 fresh water be there. He keeps close by the side of wooded 

 fresh-water rivers, and dark and lonely creeks. He leaves his 

 retreat before sunrise, to feed on the insects over the water ; 

 he returns to it as soon as the sun's rays cause a glare of 

 light, is sedentary all day long, and comes out again, for a 

 short time, after sunset. He builds his nest on a twig over 

 the water, in some unfrequented creeks ; it looks like tanned 



