14 THE NATURALIST. 



Saskachawan, and was found breeding near the sources of the Elk River ; it is known to 

 reach as far north as the 57th parallel. 



The humming-birds are of a lively and active disposition, almost constantly on the 

 wing, and performing all their motions with great rapidity ; their flight is in darts, and it 

 is at this time, in a brilliant sun, that the variations of their plumage are displayed with 

 the greatest advantage. 



" Each rapid movement gives a different dye ; 

 Like scales of burnished gold, they dazzling show, 

 Now sink to shade now like a furnace glow." 



But when performing a lengthened flight, as during migration, they pass through the air 

 in long undulations, raising themselves for some distance, and then falling in a curve. 

 When about to feed, or in search of a favorite flower, they hover stationary, surveying 

 all around, and suddenly dart off to the object. They remain suspended in the air in a 

 space barely sufficient for them to move their wings, and the humming noise proceeds 

 entirely from the surprising velocity with which they perform that motion, by which 

 they will keep their bodies in the air, apparently motionless, for hours together. 



They seldom alight upon the ground, but perch easily on branches ; they are also 

 possessed of boldness and familiarity, and even attack and tease the king-bird. Among 

 themselves they are exceedingly pugnacious, two males seldom meeting on the same 

 bush or flower without a battle. In the gardens they flutter about without heeding 

 intruders. 



During the breeding season, if the nest is approached, they dart round with a hum- 

 ming sound, often passing within a few inches of the person ; and should the young be 

 newly hatched, the female will almost immediately resume her seat, though the in- 

 truders continue within a few yards distance. The intrepidity and jealousy of a dimi- 

 nutive Mexican species far exceeds the quiet courage of the Northern birds. When 

 attending their young, they attack any bird indiscriminately that approaches the nest. 

 Their motions, when under the influence of anger and fear, are very violent, and their 

 flights rapid as an arrow. The eye cannot follow them, but the shrill piercing shriek 

 which they utter on the wing, may be heard when the bird is invisible, and often lead 

 to their destruction by preparing for their approach. They attack the eyes of the 

 larger birds, and their sharp needle-like bill is a truly formidable weapon in that kind 

 of warfare. Nothing can exceed their fierceness when one of their own species invades 

 their territory during the breeding season ; under the influence of jealousy they become 

 perfect furies ; their throats swell ; their crests, tails and wings expand ; they fight in 

 the air, uttering a shrill noise, till one falls exhausted to the ground. When they see 

 a man climb the tree where they have their nests, they fly at his face and strike him in 

 the eyes, coming, going, and returning, with such swiftness that no man would rightly 

 believe it that had not seen it. 



The nests are built with great delicacy, but at the same time with much compactness 

 and warmth. On the plains, near the Elk River, the nest of this hardy bird is built of 

 the materials that are most appropriate in the country j the downy seeds of an anemone, 

 bound with a few stalks of moss and lichen. 



The nest of Trochilus Pella is principally composed of a spongy cellular substance, 

 apparently similar to that of a fungus, of which some species of wasps build large habi- 

 tations, suspended from the branches of trees in the virgin forests of Guiana. 



The nest of the black humming-bird is also made of cotton, entwined round the 

 thorns and twigs of the citron-tree, and is of so firm a texture as not to be easily broken 



