more notes on new humming-birds.



159



mines, torpedos, submarines, and other commodities of up-to-date

sea-travel, the liner carrying the tiny creatures sailed safely into

harbour on August 27th, 1915, landing upon the soil some 25

Colibris, mostly in excellent condition. The usual wash, rest, good

food and plenty of heat worked the usual wonders ; after the sad

but inevitable decease of the weakly specimens I found myself the

owner of the largest and most varied collection of humming-birds

ever brought alive to Europe. A still more complete success might

have been attained, had I only been told, instead of all the trash

and nonsense one hears from all sources concerning these apparently

mysterious little birds, that it is customary for Venezuelan ones to

moult towards the autumn. Quite a number of them arrived in the

middle of that ever delicate operation, and of these several suc¬

cumbed. It would have been a simple matter to arrange for the

consignment to he sent earlier in the season, when after landing

they would have had a better chance to rally from the fatigues of

their journey before entering upon such a critical time. On the

other hand, as a very large proportion of the Colibris turned out

to be young ones, babies in my opinion not many weeks old at the

time of their capture, this serious disadvantage was to some extent

made up by the interest attaching to the study of their development

and by the greater adaptability of immature age. And this brings

me to mention that whether or not the assertion is correct that

humming-birds are ephemeral beings, living, like the rose of the poet,

“ .... l’espace d’un matin,”


it is not borne out by the decidedly slow process of their assumption

of plumage.


Nearly five months have elapsed since the arrival of these,

and of two Mangos (Trochilus mango) who reached me in the long-

clothes stage of their existence ; only one just begins to show traces

of the characteristic blue of the male round his cheeks and neck,

whilst the other, slightly more advanced, still has a great deal of

the white garb of young age on his under parts. Further, of three

ruby topaz (Chrysolampis elatus — Moschitus), all babies, one has

scarcely added more than the least touch of gold to a few jewelled

feathers among the grays of his tiny body ; the two others, of which

one has become in England the possession of a friend, have remained



