THE HUMMING BIRDS. 277 



it is the want of suOicicut exercise, or some other uukuovvii cause, they 

 invariably die within a few weeks, or months at the longest, of their 

 capture. The first attempt to transport them alive across the Atlantic 

 seems to be the one related by Latham, as follows : 



" A young gentleman, a few days before he sailed from Jamaica for England, met 

 with a female Humming Bird sitting on the nest and eggs, and cutting off the twig, 

 he brought altogether on board. The bird became sufficiently tame to suffer herself 

 to be fed on honey and water during the passage, and hatched two young ones. The 

 mother, however, did not long survive, but the young were brought to England, and 

 continued for some time in the possession of Lady Hammond. The little creatures 

 readily took honey from the lips of Lady Hammond, and though the one did not live 

 long, the other survived for at least two months from the time of their arrival." 



Mr. Gould was partially successful in his attempt to carry living speci- 

 mens of the Ruby-throat (Trocliilus colubris} to England, his experience 

 being related as follows : 



"A Trochilus colubris captured for me by some friends in Washington . . . im- 

 mediately afterwards partook of some saccharine food that was presented to it, and 

 in 2 hours it pumped the fluid out of a little bottle whenever I offered it; and in 

 this way it lived with me a constant companion for several days, traveling in a little 

 thin, gauzy bag distended by a slender piece of whale bone and suspended to a but- 

 ton of my coat. It was only necessary for me to take the little bottle from my pocket 

 to induce it to thrust its spiny bill through the gauze, protrude its lengthened tongue 

 down the neck of the bottle, and pump up the fluid until it was satiated; it would 

 then retire to the bottom of its little home, preen its wings and tail-feathers, and 

 seem quite content. 



The specimens I brought alive to this country were as docile and fearless as a great 

 moth or any other insect would be under similar treatment. The little cage in which 

 they lived was 12 inches long by 7 inches wide and 8 inches high. In this was 

 placed a diminutive twig of a tree, and, suspended to the side, a glass vial which I 

 daily supplied with saccharine matter in the form of sugar or honey and water, with 

 the addition of the yolk of an unboiled egg. Upon this food they appeared to thrive 

 and be happy during the voyage along the seaboard of America and across the 

 Atlantic, until they arrived within the influence of the climate of Europe. Off the 

 western part of Ireland symptoms of drooping unmistakably exhibited themselves ; 

 but, although they never fully rallied, I, as before stated, succeeded in bringing one 

 of them alive to London, where it died on the second day after its arrival at my 

 house. The vessel in which I made the passage took a northerly course, which car- 

 ried us over the banks of Newfoundland, and, although the cold was rather severe 

 during part of the time, the only effect it appeared to have upon ray little pets was 

 to induce a kind of torpidity from which, however, they were readily aroused by 

 placing them in the sunshine or in some warm situation, such as before a fire, in the 

 bosom, etc. I do assure my readors that I have seen these birds cold and stiff, and 

 to all appearances dead, and from this state they were readily restored by a little 

 attention and removed into light and heat, when they would " perk up," flutter their 

 little wings, and feast away upon their usual food as if in the best state of health. 



The experience of Mr. Gosse in his attempt to domesticate the beau- 

 tiful Long-tailed Humming Bird of Jamaica (Aithurus polytmus) was 

 equally discouraging. 



Some [says he] were taken with the net, others with birdlime, but though trans- 

 ferred to a basket or to a cage immediately on capture, not a few were found dead on 

 arrival at home. This sudden death I could not at "all account for; they did not 



