The Rivoli Hummingbird {Eugenes fuigens) 



By Lynds Jones 



Length : 4 inches. 



In that wonderful and magnificent book "A Monograph of the Trochilidse," 

 the family of hummingbirds, Mr. John Gould, the author, writing of his expe- 

 riences with these mites of bird life, says : 



"How vivid is my recollection of the first hummingbird which met my 

 admiring gaze ! With what delight did I examine its tiny body and feast my 

 eyes on its glittering plumage ! These early impressions, I well remember, grad- 

 ually increased into an earnest desire to attain a more intimate acquaintance 

 with the lovely group of birds to which it pertained. During the first twenty 

 years of my acquaintance with these wonderful works of creation my thoughts 

 were often directed to them in the day, and my dreams have not unfrequently 

 carried me to their native forests in the distant country of America." 



These birds have ever been an inspiration to the poet. How beautiful are 

 these lines of Maurice Thompson, addressed to the hummingbird: 



Zephyr loves thy wings 



Above all lovable things, 

 And brings them gifts with rapturous murmurings. 

 Thine is the golden reach of blooming hours ; 



Spirit of flowers ! 



Thou art a winged thought 



Of tropical hours. 

 With all the tropics' rare bloom-splendor frought; 

 Surcharged with beauty's indefinable powers. 



Angel of flowers ! 



It seems cruel and strange that any person should kill these tiny creatures 

 especially for ornamental purposes. They are the gems of nature, yet one day, 

 in the year 1888, over twelve thousand skins of hummingbirds were sold in 

 London. "And in one week during the same year there were sold at auction, 

 in that city, four hundred thousand hummingbirds and other birds from North 

 and South America, the former doubtless comprising a very considerable per- 

 centage of the whole number." When we remember that the hummingbird lays 

 but two eggs, the rapid extermination of some of the species is evident unless 

 this wholesale slaughter is stopped. Even the tropics, where bird life is won- 

 derfully abundant, cannot support such wanton destruction. 



The Rivoli, or the Refulgent hummingbird, as it is frequently called, has 

 a very limited range. It is found in the "mountains of southeastern Arizona, 

 southwestern New Mexico and over the table lands of Mexico," southward to 

 Nicaragua. It is one of the largest and most beautiful of the hummingbirds that 



848 



