82 NIDIFICATION. 



bird. The smooth twigs of the bamboo are not 

 unfrequently chosen. It is not an uncommon 

 thing in Jamaica for a road up a mountain to be 

 cut in zig-zag terraces to diminish the steepness ; 

 and, to prevent the lower side of such a road 

 from crumbling away, stems of green bamboo 

 are cut and laid in a shallow trench along the 

 edge. Shoots spring from every joint, and pre- 

 sently a close row of living palisades is growing 

 along the margin of the road, whose roots, as 

 they spread, effectually bind together the moun- 

 tain side, and make the terrace perpetual ; while, 

 as they increase in height and thickness, they 

 throw their gracefully- waving tufts over the 

 way, like gigantic ostrich plumes, affording a 

 most refreshing shadow from the heat. Such a 

 bamboo-walk, as it is called, winds up the steep 

 side of Grand Vale Mountain, in St. Elizabeth's, 

 and here the nests of the Vervain Humming- 

 bird are frequently met with." These nests are, 

 for the most part, complete cups of silk-cotton, 

 exceedingly compact and neat, ornamented out- 

 side with bits of grey lichen stuck about. They 

 are usually placed on a joint of a bamboo branch, 

 and are supported by the diverging twigs, around 

 which spiders' webs or fibres of silk-cotton are 

 thrown, in order to afford additional security. 



We have said enough to give our readers a 

 general idea of the diversities of nidification 

 among the Trochilidae ; in every instance beauty 

 of structure is observable, and in some instances 



