108 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



your head, supporting himself by a swift motion of the 

 wings, and simply hitching to right and left in short 

 arcs, as if he were fixed on a pivot, sometimes mean- 

 while whirling clear around. There he hangs on his 

 invisible axis until you grow tired watching him, and 

 then he darts to his favorite perch on the dead tree. 

 No doubt John Vance Cheney had in mind another 

 species when he composed the following metrical de- 

 scription, but it aptly characterized the volatile broad- 

 tail as well : 



" Voyager on golden air, 

 Type of all that 's fleet and fair, 

 Incarnate gem, 

 Live diadem, 



Bird-beam of the summer day, 

 Whither on your sunny way ? 



Stay, forget lost Paradise, 

 Star-bird fallen from happy skies." 



After that first meeting the broad-tailed hummers 

 were frequently seen in my rambles among the Rockies. 

 In some places there were small colonies of them. They 

 did not always dwell together in harmony, but often 

 pursued one another like tiny furies, with a loud z-z-z- 

 zip that meant defiance and war. The swiftness of 

 their movements often excited my wonder, and it was 

 difficult to see how they kept from impaling themselves 

 on thorns or snags, so reckless were their lightning-like 



