LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRD 431 



Plumages. — Not much seems to be known about the immature 

 plumages of this species, but the sexes are apparently alike in 

 Juvenal plumages and resemble the adult female, though a little 

 grayer on the under parts. One young male, collected September 

 15, has one violet-purple feather on its throat, indicating an ap- 

 proach to the adult plumage during the fall and winter. I have 

 seen adults of both sexes molting from September to December, 

 during which time the complete annual molt probably occurs. 



Food. — ^We have no definite data on the food of this species, which 

 probably does not differ materially from that of other humming- 

 birds. It is said to be devoted to the flower clusters of the tall 

 flowering agave, where it finds a bountiful supply of nectar, as well 

 as numerous small insects and spiders. 



Mr. Bullock (1825) gives the following interesting account of its 

 spider hunting : 



The house I resided in at Xalapa for several weelis was only one story high, 

 enclosing, like most of the Spanish houses, a small garden in the centre, the roof 

 projecting six or seven feet from the walls, covering a walk all round, and leaving a 

 small space only between the tiles, and the trees which grew in the centre. 

 From the edges of these tiles to the branches of the trees in the garden, the 

 spiders had spread their innumerable webs so closely and compactly that they 

 resembled a net. I have frequently watched with much amusement the cau- 

 tious peregrination of the humming bird, who, advancing beneath the web, 

 entered the various labyrinths and cells in search of entangled flies, but as the 

 larger spiders did not tamely surrender their booty, the invader was often com- 

 pelled to retreat ; being within a few feet, I could observe all their evolutions 

 with great precision. The active little bird generally passed once or twice 

 round the court, as if to reconnoitre his ground, and commenced his attack by 

 going carefully under the nets of the wily insect, and seizing by surprise the 

 smallest entangled flies, or those that were most feeble. In ascending the 

 angular traps of the spider great care and skill was required ; sometimes he 

 had scarcely room for his little wings to perform their office, and the least 

 deviation would have entangled him in the complex machinery of the web, and 

 involved him in ruin. It was only the works of the smaller spider that he 

 durst attack, as the larger sort rose to the defence of their citadels, when the 

 besieger would shoot off like a sunbeam, and could only be traced by the lumi- 

 nous glow of his refulgent colors. The bird generally spent about ten minutes 

 in this predatory excursion, and then alighted on a branch of the Avocata to 

 rest and refresh himself, placing his crimson star-like breast to the sun, which 

 then presented all the glowing fire of the ruby and surpassing in lustre the 

 diadem of monarchs. 



BehavioT. — The same observer writes: 



When attending their young, they attack any bird indiscriminately that ap- 

 proaches the nest. Their motions, when under the influence of anger or fear, 

 are very violent, and their flight rapid as an arrow; the eye cannot follow 

 them, but the shrill, piercing shriek which they utter on the wing may be heard 

 when the bird is invisible. They attack the eyes of the larger birds, and their 

 sharp, needle-like bill is a truly formidable weapon in this kind of warfare. 

 Nothing can exceed their fierceness when one of their own species invades their 



