HUM MING-BIRD 449 
Cometes, Diphlogena and Thaumastura, whose very names indicate 
the glories of their bearers. The comparatively gigantic Patagona 
inhabits the west coast of South America, while the isolated rocks 
of Juan Fernandez not only afford a home to the Hustephanus before 
mentioned, but also to two other species of the same genus which 
are not found elsewhere. The slopes of the Northern Andes and 
the hill country of Colombia furnish perhaps the greatest number of 
forms, and some of the most beautiful, but leaving that great range, 
we part company with the largest and most gorgeously arrayed 
PHAETHORNIS EURYNOME, AND NEsT. (After Gould.) 
species, and their number dwindles as we approach the eastern 
coast. Still there are many brilliant Humming-birds common 
enough in the Brazils, Guiana and Venezuela. The Chrysolampis 
mosquitus is perhaps the most plentiful. Thousands of its skins are 
annually sent to Europe to be used in the manufacture of ornaments, 
its rich ruby-and-topaz glow rendering it one of the most beautiful 
objects imaginable. In the darkest depths of the Brazilian forests 
dwell the russet-clothed brotherhood of the genus Phaethornis—the 
“Hermits” ; but the great wooded basin of the Amazons seems to 
be particularly unfavourable to the Zvochilidx, and from Para to 
Ega there are scarcely a dozen species to be met with, There is 
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