328 HUMMINGBIRDS. 
vaguely heard or only read of; thus digging, as 
it were, from Nature’s exhaustless mine, fresh 
wonders of Divine handiwork on which eye had 
not before gazed. 
Hummingbirds. — Hummingbirds, and the 
wild tangled loveliness of tropical vegetation, 
appear to be so closely linked together, that we 
are apt to think the one essential to the existence 
of the other. 
We naturally (at least I did in my earlier 
days) associate these tiniest gems of the feathered 
creation with glowing sunshine, gorgeous flowers, 
erotesque orchids—palms, plaintains, bananas, and 
blacks. This is all true enough, and if we take 
that large slice of the American continent betwixt 
the Amazon, the Rio Grande, and the Gila (em- 
bracing Guiana, New Granada, Central America, 
Mexico, and the West Indian islands), as the home 
of hummingbirds, we shall pretty truthfully de- 
fine, what is usually assumed to be, the geogra- 
phical range of this group—a group entirely con- 
fined to America. Within the above limits, the 
ereat variety of species, the most singular in form 
and brilliant in plumage, are met with. 
Gazing on these gems of the air, one would 
suppose that Nature had exhausted all her skill 
in lavishly distributing the richest profusion of 
