LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 123 



more normal way being, I presume, the securing 

 of the minute creatures that inhabit the tubes of 

 flowers ; yet we perj)etually see them hawking even 

 at liberty. My captives would occasionally fly to 

 the walls, and pick from the spiders' webs, with 

 which they were draped. When they rested, they 

 sat in nearly an upright posture, the head usually 

 thrown a little back, and the crimson beak pointing 

 at a small angle above the horizon, the feet almost 

 hidden, the belly being brought into contact with 

 the perch, the tail somewhat thrown in under the 

 body, and the long feathers crossing each other near 

 their middle. Their ordinary mode of coming down 

 to drink was curious. I have said that their little 

 reservoir of syrup was placed at the edge of a table, 

 about two feet beneath them. Instead of flying 

 down soberly in a direct line, which would have 

 been far too dull for the volatile genius of a Hum- 

 ming-bird, they invariably made a dozen or twenty 

 distinct stages of it, each in a curve descending a 

 little, and ascending nearly to the same plane, and 

 hovering a second or two at every angle ; and some- 

 times when they arrived opposite the cup more 

 quickly than usual, as if they considered it reached 

 too soon, they would make half a dozen more hori- 

 zontal traverses before they would bring their tiny 

 feet to the edge of the glass and insert their sucking 

 tongue. They were very frequently sipping, though 

 they did not take much at a time ; five birds about 

 emptied a wine-glass per diem. Their faecal dis- 

 charges were altogether fluid, and exactly resem- 

 bled the syrup which they imbibed. They were 



G 2 



