THE HUMMING BIKDS. 273 



must naturally have readied its culminating point when he first beheld 

 living specimeus in the full freedom of their native haunts. He thus 

 tersely describes their flight : 



Although mauy short intermissious of rest are taken dining the day, the bird may 

 he said to live in air — an clement in which it performs every kind of evolntion with 

 tlie ntmost ease, freqncntly rising perpendicularly, tlying backward, pirouetting or 

 dancing off, as it wore. 



Kegarding the ability of the Plumming Bud to fly backward, we 

 quote the following, by Bradford Torrey, from Science, vol. ii, No. 34, 

 p. 436 : 



The Duke of Argyle, in his Reigu of Law (p. 145), lays it down in italics, that " no 

 birdcall ever fly bnolcwardn." Ho mentions the Humiiiing Bird as appearing to do so, 

 but maintains that in reality it falls ratlicr tlian Hies, when, for instance, he comes 

 out of a tubular llower. But this morning while watching tlie motions of a Hum- 

 ming Bird (Trochiliis aolubris), it occurred to me to test the diclinti of the duke, and 

 unless my eyes were altogetlior at fault, the bird did actually (ly backwards. He was 

 jtrobing, one after another, the blossoms of a petunia bed, and more than once, when 

 the (h)wer happened to bo low down, he plainly rose rather than fell as ho backed 

 away from it. 



The present writer has observed the same tiling, but has noticed that 

 the backward motion is greatly assisted by a forward ilirt of the ex- 

 panded tail as the bird shifts from place to place, or from one part of 

 a tree to another, sometimes descending, at others ascending. It often 

 towers up above the trees, and then shoots off like a little meteor at a 

 right angle ; at other times it quietly buzzes away among the flowers 

 near the ground; at one moment it is poised over a diminutive weed, 

 at the next it is seen at a distance of 10 yards, whither it has vanished 

 with the quickness of thought. During the heat of the day the shady 

 retreats beneath the trees are very frequently visited; in the morning 

 and evening the sunny banks, the verandas, and other exposed situa- 

 tions arc more frequently resorted to. 



'• All the Humming Birds," says Mr. Gosse, " have more or less the 

 liabit when in flight of pausing in the air, and throwing the body and 

 tail into rapid and odd cortortions; this seems to be mostly the case 

 with the Mango {Lamporim mango), but perhaps is more observable in 

 Polytmus from the ettect that such motions have on the beautiful long 

 feathers of the tail. That the object of these quick turns is the capture 

 of insects I am sure, having watched one thus engaged pretty close to 

 me. I drew up and observed it carefully and distinctly saw the minute 

 flies in the air, which it pursued and caught, and heard repeatedly the 

 snapping of the beak. My presence scarcely disturbed it, if at all." 



That there are exceptions to the manner of flight which we have de- 

 scribed, is true, but they probably are not n umerous. One of the most 

 notable is that of the Giant Humming Bird {Patagona gigas) of the 

 Andes, which, Darwin says, whilst hovering over a flower flaps its wings 

 with a very slow and powerful movement, totally different from that 

 vibratory one common to most of the species, which produces the hum- 

 H. Mis. 129, pt. L» IS 



