12 CLASSIFICATION. 



mined, as to whether the gorgeous plumage of 

 the males of the Humming-birds is characteristic 

 of the season of love, or whether, being once at- 

 tained, it is permanent. Though some naturalists 

 consider this plumage transient, we confess that 

 this is not our opinion. No doubt it becomes 

 dulled by tear and wear in the course of the sea- 

 son; but a new moult will bring a renewal of the 

 same feathers with which the bird was previ- 

 ously invested. Some of the most splendid Hum- 

 ming-birds live habitually high in the Cordil- 

 leras, along the border-line of the eternal snow ; 

 and though they may, during a certain part of 

 the year, descend to a somewhat lower altitude, 

 we do not hear that their plumage undergoes 

 any change. The extensive collection of Mr. 

 Grould, containing an amount of many hundred 

 specimens, leading us to infer that they were 

 procured at all seasons of the year, presents us 

 not with a single adult male, in anything like 

 undress. Neither does Mr. Bullock, nor Prince 

 Maximilien de Neu-Wied, nor other travellers, 

 describe any change of plumage analogous to that 

 which is so remarkable in many of our European 

 birds. One species we may here instance, 

 namely, King's Humming-bird, MELLISUGA 

 KINGII, which, Mr. Darwin observes, is found 

 over a space of 2500 miles on the west coast, 

 from the hot dry country of Lima to the forests 

 of Tierra del Puego ; this species was observed 

 by Captain Philip King, E.N., in the latter 



