PEEFACE. 



THE science of Zoology, which long had to 

 struggle against indifference and neglect, is 

 now actively cultivated by the most eminent 

 in learning and station ; while at the same 

 time its address to popular feeling is re- 

 sponded to with genuine cordiality. How 

 crowded with interested visitors are the Zoo- 

 logical galleries of the British Museum ! How 

 crowded are the gardens of the Zoological Society 

 of London, and there, how attractive is Mr. 

 Gould's magnificent Cabinet of Humming-Birds ! 



So little of these brilliant miniatures of 

 the feathered race is known, in a general and 

 popular sense, that the author of the following 

 pages conceived the idea of a work bearing upon 

 their history, a work at once popular in style 

 and scientific in detail, which he trusted would 

 meet with acceptation. How far he has suc- 

 ceeded the public will judge. To Mr. Grould, 

 whose Cabinet was freely thrown open to him, 

 and whose magnificent Monograph of the 



