234 



FIERY TOPAZ HUMMING-BIED. 



to the moderate temperatures of the middle regions, and the tropical heat of the moun- 

 tain's foot. This circumstance must be borne in mind, as we shall find, on examining the 

 habits of man)' of these birds, that the conditions requisite for their maintenance are 

 very capricious, and that a belt of laud a few yards in width wiYL often suffice to separate 

 the habitation of one local species from that of another, neither venturing to trespass into 

 the dominions of its neighbour. 



The Copper-bellied Puff-leg is always found in a narrow belt of land varying from six 

 thousand to nine thousand feet above the level of the sea, being, therefore, practically 



confined to a strip of land barely a 

 thousand yards in width. In all pro- 

 bability the reason of this restricted range 

 may be found in the vegetation of the 

 locality, which supplies the food on which 

 this species lives. 



It is a very beautiful little bird, and 

 Ijoth the sexes are very similar in their 

 colour and general appearance, except 

 that in the female the puffs of white down 

 are not so large nor so conspicuous as in 

 her mate. In the adult male, the top of 

 the head, the sides of the neck, and tlie 

 back are green, washed with a decided 

 tint of bronze, except upon the ujjper 

 tail-coverts, where the green is very pure 

 and of a metallic brilliancy. As is 

 generally the case with Humming-lurds, 

 the fine and sharply-cut wings are brown 

 washed with prirple. The tail is black, 

 M'ith a purple gloss in a side light. The 

 throat is of a beautiful shining metallic 

 green, and the general colour of the breast 

 and under portions of the body is green 

 glossed with gold, with the exception of 

 the abdomen, where the green takes a 

 coppery hue, from which the bird has 

 received its popular name. The " puffs " 

 are of a sno^^y whiteness, and look like 

 refined swans'-down. 

 The female is very similar in colour, except that the hues of the throat are not 

 possessed of so metallic a brilliancy, and, as has already been stated, the leg-tufts are 

 comparatively small. 



In the opinion of many obsen'ers, the Topaz Humming-birds are the most resplendent 

 and beautiful of all their tribe, the palm of beauty being almost equally divided between 

 the two birds which will be described in the following lines. 



The Fiery Topaz inhabits the country through which passes the Eio Negro, a tributary 

 of the Upper Amazon. It is a most gorgeous creature, and attracts peculiar attention on 

 account of the very considerable dimensions to which it reaches. Its nest is a very 

 remarkable structure, looking much as if it were made from leather, and woven so 

 adroitly to the bough upon which it is placed that it can hardly be distinguished from 

 the natural bark or from some of the numerous fungi that grow upon trees. Its surface 

 is quite smooth, and the colour is a reddish-dun. The substance of which it is composed 

 is a kind of fungus, of the same order as the well-known Boletus of which German 

 tinder is made. The eggs are two in number, and beautifully white. 



The colour of this splendid bird is mostly a blazing scarlet, contrasting boldly M'ith 

 the deep velvet-black of the head and part of the neck. The throat is emerald-green, 



COPPER-BELLIED PUFF-LEG HUMMING-BIRD. 

 Eriocncmis cupre'iventris. 



