THE OOLOGIST 



45 



Feathered Gems. 



Of all the groups into which the sci- 

 entists have divided the birds, the Hum- 

 mingbirds are the most elegant and 

 varied in form, brilliant in plumage, 

 agile and graceful in movement. They 

 inhabit exclusively the tropical and 

 tempei'ate portions of America, and 

 form the most charming and interest- 

 ing element in the bird-life of the West- 

 ern World. The study of the Hum- 

 mingbird is one of such peculiar inter- 

 est that it may almost be said to consti- 

 tute a separate department of the sci- 

 ence of ornithology, and the word "tro- 

 chilidist" has beau coined to designate 

 those paying special attention to this 

 study. 



Unfortunatel3^ however, the natural- 

 ist has not been the only one to be at- 

 tracted by the resplendent beauty of 

 the Hummingbirds. There is a great 

 demand for them for millinery and or- 

 namental purposes that has greatly 

 added to their destruction, and which 

 has probably lead to the extinction of 

 certain tropical species. From South 

 and Central America, and also from 

 Mexico, thousands of skins have been 

 sent annually to the great cities of Eu- 

 rope to be used for decorative pur- 

 poses. The collectors resort to various 

 means for obtaining these tiny birds, 

 using nets, bird lime, small shot, and 

 the blow pipe with clay pellets. At a 

 single auction sale in London in 1888, 

 over 12,000 Hummingbird skins were 

 sold, and in the same year over 400,000 

 skins of American liirds were disposed 

 of in London within one week. This 

 tremenduous slaughter of our most 

 beautiful and useful creatures means 

 nothing less than the extermination of 

 many different species. 



The Hummingbirds ai-e exclusively 

 American, they have no representatives 

 in any other part of the world. When 

 considered superficially, and not struc- 

 turally, the Sun Birds of the tropical 



regions of the old World resemble the 

 Hummingbirds in brilliancy of plum- 

 age' but in structure they are wholly 

 unlike. The Sun Birds resemble in 

 structure to a great degree the Ameri- 

 can Honey Creepers. 



The Hummingbirds are the most 

 numei'ousof all the families of birds 

 that are distinctively American, there 

 being fully live hundred distinct kinds, 

 and new species are being constantly 

 brought tolight as investigations are pur- 

 sued in the little known region of Mexico, 

 Central and South America. Thev pre- 

 fer mountainous districts where within 

 small ai'eas are found diversity of pro- 

 ducts and a varied surface of the soil. 

 Most of the birds are found among the 

 Andes, within ten degrees of the Equa- 

 tor, from this region they diminish 

 rapidly both to the north and the south, 

 and also eastward toward the lowlands 

 of the South American continent. 

 About tifty species are found in Mexico, 

 and only seventeen have been discover- 

 ed within the boundries of the United 

 States, all but eight of which barel}' 

 crossing the Mexican border. 



No species of Hummingbird has been 

 discovered north of the sixty-tirst de- 

 gree of latitude, the Rufous Humming- 

 bird having been found that far north 

 on the Pacific Coast. The eastern por- 

 tion of the United States possesses but 

 one species, the Ruby-throat, and this 

 species has been traced as far north as 

 the fifty-seventh degree north latitude. 

 The mountainous region of south-west- 

 ern United States is more richly en- 

 dowed with those beautiful birds, most 

 of those found within the United States 

 being resident here. 



Without strict reference to geograph- 

 ical boundries, the distribution of Hum- 

 mingbirds may be approxinately esti- 

 mated as follows: Equador, 100 species, 

 one-half of which are peculiar to that 

 place alone; Columbia, about 100, one- 

 half peculiar; Peru and Bolivia togeth- 

 er about 95 species, one-half peculiar; 



