Humming-Birds 87 
circle, and each feather widening towards the end makes the 
semicircle complete around the edge. When catching the 
ephemeridz that play above the water, the tail is not ex- 
panded: it is reserved for times of courtship. I have seen 
the female sitting quietly on a branch, and two males display- 
ing their charms in front of her. One would shoot up like 
HUMMING-BIRDS 
a rocket, then suddenly expanding the snow-white tail like 
an inverted parachute, slowly descend in front of her, turn- 
ing round gradually to show off both back and front. The 
effect was heightened by the wings being invisible from a 
distance of a few yards, both from their great velocity of 
movement and from not having the metallic lustre of the 
rest of the body. The expanded white tail covered more 
space than all the rest of the bird, and was evidently the 
grand feature in the performance. Whilst one was descend- 
ing, the other would shoot up and come slowly down, ex- 
