THE iiuMMixfi-i'.iuns. . 299 



(^no season, too, is poc'iliarlv favourable. In the niontlis of July and Aiig-ust, when the 

 tree dcnoniiuated boi-s immoticl yields an abundance of bright red blossoms, which stay on 

 its branches for several weeks, the ditierent species f)f liiiinniing'-birda are very plentiful ; 

 then, too, they buzz like bees around the rich blossoms of the wallaba tree ; indeed, there 

 is scarcely a flower in the interior, or on the sea-coast of the isles they inhabit, which is 

 not frequently visited b}' these radiant beings. They may be observed, as soon as the 

 sun is risen, fluttering about the brilliant petals, but without ever lighting upon them. 

 So rapid, however, is the motion of their wings, that only the glittering, and not the 

 colours of them, can possibly be discerned. And as they pass onwards, now perhaps 

 wilhin a }'ar(l of the observer's face, yet gone in an instant, they look indeed like winged 

 but changing gems — now a ruby, now an amethyst, now an emerald, and anon like 

 glowing and burnished gold. 



One species alone never shows its beauty to the sun ; and were it not for his lovclj' 

 coloiu's, the naturalist would be almost disposed to remove him from the tribe]of humming- 

 birds, and to class him with the goat-suckers, because of his habits. He is the largest 

 and longest of the humming-birds, and is of mingled red and a changing gold green, 

 except the head, which is black ; as are also two long tail-feathers, which cross each 

 other. He is never found on the sea- coast or where the water is salt, or about the trees 

 of a forest, except fresh water be there. He keeps by the side of the woody fresh-water 

 rivers and dark and lonel}' creeks, leaving his retreat before sunrise to feed on the insects 

 hovering over the water, returning to it as soon as the I'ays of the solar orb cause a glare 

 of light, continuing sedentary all daV- long, and only emerging again a short time after 

 simset. "What a singular exception does he present to the general habits of his rate ! 



We conclude our account, which we should gladly ha\e extended, with one fact. A 

 voung man, a few days before his departure from Jamaica, surprised a female humming- 

 bird in the act of incubation, caught it, remo\-ed the branch on which the nest was, and 

 carried them very carefully on board the ship. The little creature became sufficiently tame, 

 during the passage, to suffer herself to be fed with honey and water, and actually hatched 

 her offspring ; but she died at the close of the voyage. Two j'oung ones, however, 

 survived it, and came into the possession of Lady Hammond and Sir Henry Englefield ; 

 they were sufficiently tame to take honey with their bills from the lady's lips ; but one 

 speedily died, and the other only lived two mouths after its arrival. 



