REVIEWS. ) 



find them tip near the region where patches of recently-fallen snow begin 

 to cover the last effort of vegetable life, t before the line of eternal snow 

 begins. 



The dazzling beauty of these winged gems has^at all times, attracted at- 

 tention, whether viewed amid the glowing scenery of their native forests, or 

 seen (as it was lately the privilege of the inhabitants and visitors to the 

 British metropolis) in the more artificial display of a collection. Every epi- 

 thet which man's ingenuity could invent has been used to give an idea of 

 the richness of their colouring the lustres of the emerald and of rubies 

 have been compared to them ; but all fall short of the real brilliancy of some 

 of the Trochilidae, when seen hovering around the flowers of some tree, 

 with their breasts flashing in the sun's rays. In the days of the " gentle 

 Cortes," Prince Montezuma met the Peruvian conqueror clad in a superb 

 garment, not glittering with gold and silver, but with the feathers of these 

 birds ; and even the Indian could appreciate their loveliness, and delighted to 

 adorn his bride with gems and jewellery plucked from the starry frontlets 

 of these beauteous forms ;* and in his native language they are styled 

 by no unapt metaphor, the " beams" or "locks" of the sun. 



It has somewhere been flippantly said, that " in tropical countries, where 

 brilliant and varied colours have been granted to the birds and flowers, 

 song has been denied to the one and fragrance to the other." This is by 

 no means a correct assertion ; and even in this tribe of " brilliant 

 and varied" coloured birds, we have a striking example of its 

 impropriety ; for the very smallest of all birds as we are told by 

 Mr. Gosse, in a charming passage in one of his worksf "The tiny 

 vervain hummingbird (Mellisuga humilis), not larger than a school- 

 boy's thumb, utters a song so sweet, but of sounds so attenuated withal, 

 that you wonder who the musician can be, and are ready to think it the 

 voice of an invisible fairy, when, presently, you see the atom of a performer 

 perched on the topmost twig of a mango or orange tree, his slender beak 

 open, and his spangled throat quivering, as if he would expire his little soul 

 in the effort." 



The migration of these birds might at first appear strange ; but the more 

 one studies the works of a Supreme Creator, the more will he be struck by 

 the admirable fitness of all things for the conditions with which they are 

 surrounded ; and beautifully is this exemplified in the present instance. Well 

 may we in every case admire the- wonderful works of God. It is true the 

 hummingbird need not leave any of its accustomed haunts, because the 



* " Hummingbirds," by Sir W. Jardine, vol. i., p. 96. 

 t " A Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica," p. 179. 



