THE HUMMING BIRDS. 157 
jewelled bands, with untiring wing, suck the sweet 
nectar from some favorite flower, or with the velocity 
of thought flash like meteors across the vision, in 
pursuit of their prey. 
The traveller who has visited the haunts of these 
birds, can alone possess an adequate idea of their 
surpassing loveliness. As they seldom live long in 
confinement, almost the only impression we can form 
of them is gained from the descriptions of those who 
have observed their habits in their native woods, and 
from the examination of the stuffed skins in our cab- 
inets. The varieties of form, size, and color are so 
many, and the general development of the organs is 
so various, that in viewing a collection of these lovely 
creatures, one cannot but wonder at so wide a differ. 
ence between them, while a general resemblance is 
constantly preserved. 
In the island of Jamaica, and peculiar to that lo- 
eality, is found a species familiarly known by the 
name of Polytmus, or Black-headed Humming Bird, 
— having two of the tail feathers lengthened to a 
degree quite disproportionate, being more than twice 
the length of the body; while in the Andes of Bo- 
gota there exists a variety (Sword-bill) with the bill 
protruded to such an astonishing extent, as almost to 
make one laugh at the magnitude of the supposed 
deformity. From Brazil and Guiana we receive 
specimens having crests on the head, and lateral 
tufts on the neck, capable of being raised or depressed 
at pleasure, and which, when fully expanded, give 
the bird the appearance of being possessed of two 
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