98 Wonders of the Bird World 



out of the common. A young male would rest suspended 

 underneath a thin branch, whilst another would perform 

 above him, spreading its tail and clicking. They would 

 change their position in the twinkling of an eye, when the 

 second bird would hang under the branch, and the other 

 would take its turn in the air above it. " It would be 

 curious," says the naturalist above-mentioned, " to know the 

 object of such evolutions. Can it be a kind of exercise, or 

 a form of rivalry ? If it could be for either of these reasons, 

 how comes it that the adult males so seldom appear to take 

 part in the performance, though they pass by very often ? 

 Only once have I seen an old male arrest his flight in front 

 of a young one." The adult birds in showing off their tail 

 would sometimes give an extraordinary position to the outer 

 tail-feathers, so that the two rackets would range themselves 

 above the bird's head. This unique movement of the tail 

 observed by Stolzmann would be represented by the raising 

 of the tail on high, the rackets thus covering the head, 

 while the body of the bird is constricted in front. It is 

 often more easy to observe the rackets than the bird itself, 

 and thus a man often fails to shoot it if it turns towards the 

 hunter, as its varied breast is easily confounded with the 

 neighbouring objects. When the bird is flying in the shade 

 the rackets are also easy to distinguish. 



Stolzmann has seen one of these Humming-birds drinking 

 the water of a brook, in which it had sought out a little 

 cascade, and one can well understand that it is only in 

 such a manner that it can assuage its thirst. Such tiny 

 cascades abound all over the country inhabited by the 

 Loddigesia. It was just before sunset, and he observed the 

 bird at a distance of three paces. 



The note of the adult male is not known, but the young 

 males and the females utter a cry tsi-tsi-tsi ! rapidly 

 repeated. It is heard when the birds visit flowers or dur- 

 ing their manoeuvres ; when at rest, they utter no sound. 



