Hummuing-Brrds. 215 
contained in them as the story of the Loddigesia 
mirabilis. This is perhaps the most wonderful 
humming-bird known, and no one who had not 
previously seen it figured could possibly form an 
idea of what it is like from a mere description. An 
outline sketch of it would probably be taken by 
most people as a fantastic design representing a 

Loddigesia Mirabilis, 
bird-form in combination with leaves, in size and 
shape resembling poplar leaves, but on leaf-stalks 
of an impossible length, curving and crossing each 
other so as to form geometrical figures unlike 
anything in nature. Yet this bird (a single speci- 
men) was obtained in Peru half a century ago, and 
for upwards of twenty years after its discovery 
