50 LOCAL DISTRIBUTION. 



with a beak longer than its own body, and that 

 with a beak curved like a sickle, cannot obtain 

 their food from the same flowers, and most pro- 

 bably do not capture the same insects. 



Some species of the Trochilidce are excessively 

 local, insomuch that a bounded and limited 

 valley a woodland glade or forest margin nay, 

 even the depression or crater of an extinct vol- 

 cano, will possess its permanent residents. On 

 the contrary, other species are decidedly migra- 

 tory, and pass over a vast extent of country ac- 

 cording to the season. We may mention as 

 examples the TEOCHILUS MANGO, the TBOCHI- 

 LUS COLIBEIS, the TEOCHILUS EUFUS, &c. 



We believe, moreover, that those which tenant 

 the high mountain ranges, are only partially 

 migratory, ascending and descending, as the tem- 

 perature may render it necessary, or as the 

 plants may offer food. Mr. Darwin well de- 

 scribes the habits of two migratory species, both 

 natives of Chile, with an allusion to a third 

 species which he observed on the Cordilleras. 



Speaking of Chile, a landstrip between the 

 Andes and the Pacific Ocean, he writes : " Two 

 species of Humming-birds are common, and I 

 have seen a third kind within the Cordillera at 

 an elevation of about 10,000 feet. King's Hum- 

 ming-bird, MELLISUGA (TEOCHILUS) KINGII, 

 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, where it has been 



