138 BEAUTIFUL BIRDS 
it. It was wonderful, wonderful; but yet it was not 
quite so wonderful as the colours upon this Humming- 
bird’s throat. | 
The Little Flame-bearer (there is a name for 
you !) is a still smaller Humming-bird than the last 
one—indeed his body, without the feathers, would not 
be very much larger than a very large humble-bee. 
Here, again, all the wonder is on its throat, which is ° 
topaz and green and copper, all glowing and sparkling 
together, as if they were all married to one another 
and each of them was trying to get the upper hand. 
Ah, was there ever such a sweet little gem-bird ? 
He is a jewel mounted on wings and set in the air. 
Only sometimes, when he hovers just underneath a 
flower, he seems hanging from its tip like a pendant. 
Costa’s Coquette (that means that some one 
named Costa—some Portuguese gentleman — was 
the first to write about it) is larger than the Little 
Flame-bearer (though not half so big as a wren), 
and he /ries to be brighter. Whether he 7s brighter 
Iam sure I can’t say. To tell properly, one ought 
to see them both hovering under the same flower, 
or, at least, very close together, and even then 
one would only feel bewildered. But this one’s head 
and throat are all one splendour, one marvellous 
gleam of rosy, pinky, rosy-pink, pinky-rose magenta. 
Only if you say that that is what it is, it will change 
