GENEBAL DISTEIBTJTION. 41 



able tliat this small island should possess two 

 species, and that none should have hitherto been 

 discovered in the Galapagos. 



"We need not say, that Humming-birds exist 

 throughout the whole of the West India Islands, 

 but it is remarkable that in most cases, the spe- 

 cies are peculiar to their respective islands ; thus, 

 the TEOCHILUS MINIMUS of Jamaica is not found 

 in Cuba. 



Looking at the northern division of the vast 

 continent of America, as far as the Trochilida 

 are concerned, it is towards the equator, and 

 chiefly in Mexico, that we find the most numer- 

 ous species collected together. Here the group 

 presents itself in profusion a profusion in ac- 

 cordance with that of the flowering plants from 

 which their food is obtained: sixty species or 

 more may be regarded as Mexican, and of these 

 few pass to the south, traversing the Isthmus of 

 Panama, by which the north and south divisions 

 of this great expanse of land are connected. 



Turning to South America, it may be observed, 

 that naturalists, almost up to the present time, 

 have considered Brazil, Gruiana, and Venezu- 

 ela as the stronghold of this group but we 

 must proceed to the west. By more recent dis- 

 coveries we learn, that by far the most numerous 

 species of the Trochilidae, and the most beautiful, 

 are denizens of the high Cordilleras. Among 

 these radiant species, we find the most powerful 

 also, for beauty and power are seldom disjoined 



