PBOCEEBINGS OF TEE NATIONAL MUSEUM. GG9 



One species ill particular [Ceveus Nicarizii, Grisebach) bears at uncertain 

 points along- its columnar stem globular fruit, sonn^ of which are as larue 

 as small peaches. When green, they are hard and so thickly beset with 

 needle-like spines that they can not be picked up even when broken oft' 

 and lying on the ground. But as they ripen, their color turns from 

 green to dark red, the spines separate and fall off in little clumps, the 

 skin of the fruit cracks like an overripe fig, drops of nectar begin to 

 trickle forth, and are at once detected by the buff-breasted humming 

 bird, who hastens to make a delicious meal. Tint other keen eyes are 

 also on a lookout for the treat, and very soon the big troupial tears his 

 way into the sweet pulp, the mockingbird, yellow oriole, grasscjuit, and 

 black and yellow honey creeper take what he leaves, and the empty 

 shell withers in the sun and falls to the earth. In a few days 1 learned 

 that the birds were better judges of fruit than I, and whenever I saw a 

 buff-breasted hummer poised before the fruit of a cardon, I at once 

 knocked it down with my gun barrel and proceeded to enjoy it. Wiieu 

 ripe, the outer skin is easily separated from the pulp, which is dark red 

 and glutinous, thickly filled with small, black, seeds like grains of 

 powder. The flavor is delicious, somewhat like strawberry with the 

 acidity removed. The buff-breasted hummers eat not only the juice 

 but also the flesh of this fruit, and this, with the little tuberose- shaped, 

 wax like, coral-red flowers of the melon cactus and the larger flowers 

 of the tuna and cardones, constitute their food supply. They are not 

 found where these do not occur in abundance, and they are therefore 

 strictly limited to the coast region of Margarita. 



On the second day after my arrival at Margarita I was hunting in 

 the scrub w^heii I heard the notes of a bird singing near at hand. I at 

 first thought that it was the gnat-catcher, which was common there- 

 abouts, but as it struck me that the song was louder than a gnat 

 catcher's, I walked up quietly, and to my surprise discovered that it 

 emanated from a humming bird. It is a great mistake to think that 

 humming birds can not or do not sing. The Amazilia alieiw has a well- 

 marked and strong song of three notes, repeated a varying number of 

 times, and the little GhloroHillhon carlbhwa has a more varied though 

 much weaker song, but the buff-breasted hummer is a nightingale com- 

 pared to them. In singing they perch upon some prominent twig and 

 elevate their beaks. The notes can be heard at a distance, and I 

 (piickly found that the easiest way to get specimens was to wait until 

 one was heard singing and then go at once to the &\)ot. In this way I 

 secured some twenty, and could eaisly have gotten many nnn-e. As 

 among the lot only two were females, 1 think that the males alone sing. 

 On July 20 I found a nest with two eggs, incubated for a few days. 

 It was saddled up(m the branch of a small nettle bush only 2 feet from 

 the ground, and was covered with lichens. The female sat with her 

 tail high in the air and her wings beneath her tail. She was so fearless 

 that she suffered me to photograph her on the nest, and afterwards 

 lift her off with my hand, when she immediately returned to the eggs. 



