on humming birds in their native haunts.



87



all the time playing with the gorgeous old-golcl-coloured feathers of

its head. And as it was washing I heard another scream and a

second humming-bird hovered in the air over the basin. And as

the first one saw this it stopped washing and darted up into the air

and furiously attacked the intruder; whilst they were fighting the

golden head feathers were in constant play, the yellowish spots

near the eyes seeming to sparkle from excess of colour.


And now another bird of the same kind appeared and began

to splash in the basin, and from all sides they were coming and

there was great warfare and a great washing; sometimes as

many as seven were all bathing, whilst above the basin tbe little

warriors fought their battle, to interrupt it occasionally by suddenly

dropping into the water.


It was all not four feet from my face and it was a sight never

to be forgotten, and I thought that if I should see nothing else that

might interest me in Chile this sight would have been worth coming

for over land and sea all those weary miles. And after they had all

washed to their hearts’ content they one by one darted into the air

and disappeared. But they were not far away, for they sat in the

Eucalyptus and Cypress trees and dried their feathers, so that all

the beauty which had left them came back to them. And after

this they one by one uttered a sharp shriek and were gone.


I continued my way to the top of the Santa Lucia and

admired the view, but not all the glories of the snow-clad Andes

could efface the delightful sight of the home-life of the old-gold-

capped humming-bird.


From Santiago I took train to travel to the south and,

stopping at a small place called Angol, I had a twelve hours’ ride

to visit woods of Auracaria imbricata, which exist to the west of

that place. During this ride I constantly met humming birds of

the same species which I saw at Santiago, in fact I met no other

species during the whole of my trip to the south (March, April,

May, 1911).


The birds were apparently very fond of the wild fuchsias

which flowered profusely and often grew in big bushes in the forest.

They also visited the scarlet flowers of a parasitic plant, not unlike

our mistletoe which was often seen on the branches of the forest



