frequent the United States. Its royal appearance led Lesson, in the year 1829, 

 to name it Rivoli, in honor of M. Massena, the Duke of KivoH. It is noted 

 "for tlie l)eauty of its coloring^ and the bold style of its markings." 



Mr. Salvin, writin{.j of the pugnacious character of this species, says: "Many 

 a time have I thought to secure a fine male, which 1 had, perhaps, been follow- 

 ing from tree to tree, and had at last seen ([uietly perched on a leafless twig, 

 when my deadly inteiuion has been anticipated by one less so in fact, but to 

 all appearances equally so in will. Another hummingbird rushes in, knocks the 

 one I covet off his i)erch, and the two go lighting and screaming away at a pace 

 hardly to be followed by the eye. Another time this Hying fight was sustained 

 in miilair, the belligerents mounting higher and higher, until the one worsted 

 in battle darts away seeking shelter, followed by the victor, who never relin- 

 quishes the pursuit till the vanquished, by doubling and hiding, succeeds in mak- 

 ing his escape." Not only do they resent the presence of their own kind, but 

 also of other hummingbirds. 



Mr. II. W. llenshaw, who was the first scientist to discover that the Rivoli 

 was a member of the bird fauna of the United States, thus describes its nest: 

 "It is composed of mosses nicely woven into an almost circular cup, the interior 

 possessing a lining of the softest and downiest feathers, while the exterior is 

 elaborately covered with lichens, which are securely bound on by a network of 

 the finest silk from spiders' webs. It was saddled on the horizontal limb of 

 an alder, about twenty feet above the bed of a running mountain stream, in a 

 glen which was overarched and shadowed by several huge spruces, making it 

 one of the most shady and retired nooks that could imagine." 



The note of this bird gem of the pine-clad mountains is a "twittering sound, 

 louder, not so shrill and uttered more slowly than those of the small hummers." 



As the Rivoli hovers over the mescal and gathers from its flowers the numer- 

 ous insects that infest them; or, as it takes the sweets from the flowers of the 

 boreal honeysuckle, one is reminded of the words of the poet: 



"Art thou a bird, a bee, or butterfly?" 

 "Each and all three — a bird in shape am I, 



A bee collecting sweets from bloom to bloom, 



A butterfly in Ijrilliancy of plume." 



849 



