HUMMING-BIRD 441 



ordinarily in naturalists' hands, the name seems to be first found in 

 the Mnas&xim Tradescantianum, published in 1656, but it therein 

 occurs (p. 3) so as to suggest its having already l^een accepted and 

 commonly understood ;^ and its earliest use, as yet discovered, is 

 said to be by Thomas Morton in the New English Canaan, printed 

 in 1632 — a rare work I'eproduced by Peter Force in his Historical 

 Tracts (vol. ii. Washington: 1838). Thevet, in his Singularitez de 

 la France antarctique (Paris: 1558, fol. 94-), has been more than 

 once cited as the earliest author to mention Humming-birds, which 

 he did under the name of Gonahich or Gonambuch ; but it is quite 

 certain that Oviedo, whose Hystoria general de las Indias was pub- 

 lished at Toledo in 1525, preceded him by more than thirty years, 

 with an account of the "paxaro mosqiiito " of Hispaniola, of which 

 island " the first chronicler of the Indies " was governor.^ This 

 name, though now apparently disused in Spanish, must have been 

 current about that time, for we find Gesner in 1555 [De avium 

 natura, iii. p. 629) translating it literally into Latin as Passer 

 muscatus, owing, as he says, his knowledge of the bird to Cardan, 

 who (Be Sxibtil. lib. x.) had called it by the same name, and 

 tells us (Comment, in Ptolem. de astr. judiciis, Basilire : 1554, p. 

 472) that, on his return to Milan from professionally attending 

 Archbishop Hamilton at Edinburgh, he visited Gesner at Zurich, 



1 Sir Thomas Browne in 1646 wrote (Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Bk. 6, chap. 

 viii.): "So have all Ages conceaved, and most are still ready to sweare, the 

 Wren is the least of birds, yet the discoveries of America, and even of our own 

 Plantations shewed ns one farre lesse, that is, the Hum-bird, not much exceeding 

 a Beetle." The name Hum-bird was in use iifty years later. Mr. Benjamin 

 Buttivant, writing from Boston in New England to Pettiver on 15 January 

 1697/8, says [Phil. Trans, xx. p. 168) : " The Hum-hird I have shot with 

 .sand, and had one some Weeks in my keeping. I put a Straw for a Perch 

 into a Venice Glass Tumbler, ty'd over the Mouth with a Paper in which 

 I cut holes for the Bird's Bill (about as long and as small as a Taylor's 

 Needle), and laying the Glass on one side, set a Drachm of Honey by it, which 

 it soon scented, and with its long Tongue put forth beyond its Bill, fed 

 daily ; it muted the Honey pure, and was a Prospect to manj' Comers ; it flew 

 away at last." 



^ Not having seen a copy of this first edition, I take the reference from the 

 reprint of M. Gaffarel (Paris: 1878, p. 249). 



^ In the edition of Oviedo's work, published at Salamanca in 1547, the 

 earliest I have seen, the account (lib. xiv. cap. 4) runs thus : — "Ay assi mismo 

 enesta ysla vnos paxaricos tan negros como vn terciopelo negro muy bueno & son 

 tan pequenos que ningunos he yo visto en Indias rnenores/ cxcepto el que aca se 

 llama paxaro mosquito. El qual es tan pequeno que el bulto del es menor harto 

 o assaz que le cabe^a del dedo pulgar de la mano. Este no le he visto enesta Ysla 

 pero dizen me que aqui los ay : & por esso dexo de hablar enel pa lo dezir dode 

 los he visto que es en la tierra firme quado della se trate." A modern Spanish 

 version of this passage will be found in the beautiful edition of Oviedo's works 

 published by the Academy of Madrid in 1851 (i. p. 444). 



