H UMMING-BIRDS. 



79 



name any particular country in South America in which these 

 birds are found is unnecessary, for they are generally distributed 

 over its temperate and hotter portions, but they are not to be met 

 with either very far north or very far south of the equator ; that 

 is to say, their range is bounded northwardly by Southern Mexico 

 and southwardly by Bolivia. Within these limits the high and 

 the low lands are alike tenanted by them ; it, however, is in the 

 equatorial regions that they are most numerous, and there all, or 

 nearly all, the genera have representatives. In the colouring of 

 their plumage the sexes are alike. 



''>|S%M^ 



Fig. 39.- Pretreus's Hermit {Pliaetortiis Pretrei). 



The Spotted Hermit {GrypJis navius) is common in all parts of the 

 province of Santa Catherina in Brazil, but is more frequently met with in 

 woody situations than elsewhere. Its flight is exceedingly noisy, very vigor- 

 ous, and capable of being sustained for a great length of time, the bird rarely 

 alighting. Its cry is so loud and piercing as to be heard above everything 

 else, while it flutters around the various species of orchids, from whence it 

 derives its principal sustenance. 



This humming-bird builds a nest composed of fine vegetable fibres woven 

 together so as to look like an open network purse, the outer walls being so 

 loosely made as to permit the eggs and lining to be visible ; leaves, mosses, 

 and lichens are also woven in, and are packed rather tightly under the eggs ; 

 the edge, however, is always left loose. This nest is suspended at the end of 

 a leaf, usually that of a palm. 



