LOCAL EAKflE. 



chincha, and Cotopaxi; and, 

 mountain range possesses its own peculiar spe- 

 cies. To these high mountain Humming-birds, 

 truly Nivicolte, Mr. Gould has assigned the ge- 

 neric title of Oreotrochilus. These species, as 

 TEOCHILTJS ESTELLA, TE. LEUCOPTEBUS, TE. 

 CHIMBOEAZO, TE. PICHINCHA, TE. ADELA, and 

 TE. MELANOGASTEE, breed in these snow-clad 

 regions, at an elevation of from twelve or four- 

 teen to fifteen or sixteen thousand feet. In 

 fact, Bourcier found certain species of this genus 

 breeding on the rocks of Chimborazo, while 

 sheltering himself from a violent snow-storm on 

 the borders of the snow-line. 



Other genera, however, contain mountain spe- 

 cies, as Oxypoffon ; of which one (TEOCHILUS 

 LINDENII) has been discovered on the Sierra 

 Nevada de Merida at an elevation of 13,000 

 feet. Thus, then, it is a mistake to suppose 

 that a hot climate is necessary for every species. 

 Speaking of the vegetation of the elevated 

 plateaus of the Andes, Baron Humboldt says, 

 " Everywhere around, the confines of the 

 forest are encircled by broad bands of social 

 plants, as the delicate Aralia, the Thibaudia, 

 and the myrtle-leaved Andromeda; whilst the 

 Alpine Rose, the magnificent Befaria, weaves a 

 purple girdle round the spiry peaks. In the 

 cold regions of the Paramos, which is continu- 

 ally exposed to the fury of storms and winds, 

 we find that flowering shrubs, and herbaceous 



