1796 



THE PICARIAN BIRDS 



Racket-Tailed 



Unmistakable on account of its relatively-large tail and conspicuous 

 crest, the beautiful and curious racket-tailed humming bird (Loddi- 

 ng gesia mirabilis) is one of the smallest representatives of the whole 

 family. In the tail, while the two outermost feathers are long and 

 pointed, the second pair are produced in a wire-like form, crossing each other near 

 the middle of their length, and terminating in a large racket-like expansion of a 

 beautiful purple hue. First described from a single specimen in 1847, the species 

 was not met with again till 1880, when some fine examples w r ere obtained from Mr. 

 Stolzmann. The original specimen came from Upper Amazonia, from the same 

 locality where Stolzmaun's examples were obtained. It appears to be confined to 

 the valley of the Utcubamba, a little river on the right of the Marafion system, at 

 an elevation of some eight thousand feet. The country is open, with here and 

 there a little valley more richly clothed with vegetation, while an occasional clump 

 of trees survives, remains of the ancient forest which once was everywhere 

 throughout the region. Dense thickets abound, and a species of Alstromeria, of a 

 red color, is its favorite flower, and wherever this occurs the humming bird may be 

 observed, and as it is in flower from August to November, and as another humming 

 bird (Lesbia gracilis) does not affect this tree, the present bird thrives. It is one of 

 the most active of the family, seldom taking rest, the females being especially 

 lively. The adult males are more rarely seen than the hens and younger males, but 

 they are beautiful objects when seen in front of the calyx of a flower, the tail with 

 its two rackets being depressed, while the bird is hovering with the spatules in close 



proximity to each other. When 

 in flight, the humming noise pro- 

 duced by the wings is great by 

 reason of the short wings of the 

 bird, and is more pronounced in 

 the male than in the female. One 

 of the most curious habits con- 

 nected with this humming bird 

 is that of assembling. Eight or 

 ten males, mostly young ones, 

 were observed by Stolzmann near 

 Tamiapampa to collect in a bare 

 and desolate plateau on which 

 were no flowers at all, the assem- 

 bly being apparently merely for 

 manoeuvres. Two young males 

 would first stop in the air oppo- 

 site to one another, with their 

 bodies held vertically, opening 

 their tails and springing first to 

 one side and then to the other, 



uttering a little cry each time the tail was opened, which the observer likened 

 to the noise of flipping a finger nail or snapping a watch case. As a rule, this 



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RACKET-TAILED HUMMING BIRD. 



