A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 237 



angle, and behold, his gorget had long, flaring 

 wings, like the loose ends of a broad necktie, or, 

 to use the homely comparison which occurred to 

 me at the moment, like a pair of big mutton-chop 

 whiskers, and was no longer black, but of a most 

 exquisite and brilliant shade of violet. The radi- 

 ant vision shone upon me for an instant ; then, 

 at another movement of the head, all was black 

 again, and in another instant the bird was gone. 



Now, then, I began to see daylight. The bird, 

 having a ruff, was not of the genus Trochilus, 

 and the question was so far simplified, though it 

 would be necessary to consult the book again 

 before it could be settled. Meanwhile, I must 

 by all means have another look at the beauty. 

 Such splendor of color was worth waiting for, 

 though it came only in flashes. And I waited. 

 But though the creature finally returned to the 

 mesquite he persisted in sitting with his back to 

 the sun, and I came away without seeing him 

 again transfigured. 



Another reference to the handbook, and I knew 

 him for Calypte costce, the Costa hummingbird. 

 But now mark how one day's work is linked 

 with another's. The book informed me that the 

 crown, as well as the gorget and the ruff, was 

 " brilliantly burnished amethyst violet." I had 

 not seen that, doubtless because the light had not 



