116 PASSERES. TROCHILID^. 



was most interesting to me,) he returned immediate- 

 ly, and inserting his beak into the bare quill, finished 

 the contents. It was amusing to see the odd posi- 

 tion of his head and body as he clung to the bottle, 

 with his beak inserted perpendicularly into the cork. 

 Several times, in the course of the evening, he 

 had recourse to his new fountain, which was as 

 often replenished for him, and at length about 

 sunset betook himself to a line stretched across 

 the room, for repose. He slept, as they all do, 

 with the head not behind the wing, but slightly 

 drawn back on the shoulders, and in figure re- 

 minded me of Mr. Gould's beautiful plate of Tro- 

 gon resplendens, in miniature. In the morning, 

 I found him active before sunrise, already having 

 visited his quill of syrup, which he emptied a 

 second time. After some hours, he flew through 

 a door which I had incautiously left open, and 

 darting through the window of the next room, es- 

 caped, to my no small chagrin. 



Three males, captured on Bluefields peak on the 

 22nd of April, were brought home alive. They 

 at once became familiar on being turned into the 

 room, and one, the boldest, found out immediately 

 a glass of sugar-syrup, and sipped repeatedly at 

 it. One of them disappeared in the course of the 

 next day, doubtless by falling into some obscure 

 corner behind the furniture. The others, however, 

 appeared quite at home, and one soon became so 

 familiar, even before 1 had had him a day, as to 

 fly to my face, and perching on my lip or chin, 

 thrust his beak into my mouth, and suck up the 



