HUMMING-BIRDS 



are found in the temperate (northern and southern) parts of 

 the continent are migrants, which retire in the winter to the 

 warmer lands near or within the tropics. In the extreme 

 north of America two species are regular summer visitants, one 

 on the east and the other on the west of the Rocky Mountains. 

 On the east the common North American or Euby-throated 

 humming-bird extends through the United States and Canada, 

 and as far as 57 north latitude, or considerably north of 

 Lake Winnipeg ; while the milder climate of the west coast 

 allows the Rufous Flame-bearer to extend its range beyond 

 Sitka to the parallel of 61. Here they spend the whole 

 summer, and breed, being found on the Columbia River in the 

 latter end of April, retiring to Mexico in the winter. Sup- 

 posing that those which go farthest north do not return 

 farther south than the borders of the tropics, these little 

 birds must make a journey of full three thousand miles each 

 spring and autumn. The antarctic humming-bird visits the 

 inhospitable shores of Tierra-del-Fuego, where it has been 

 seen visiting the flowers of fuchsias in a snowstorm, while 

 it spends the winter in the warmer parts of Chili and 

 Bolivia. 



In the south of California and in the Central United 

 States three or four other species are found in summer ; but 

 it is only when we enter the tropics that the number of 

 different kinds becomes considerable. In Mexico there are 

 more than thirty species, while in the southern parts of 

 Central America there are more than double that number. 

 As we go on towards the equator they become still more 

 numerous, till they reach their maximum in the equatorial 

 Andes. They especially abound in the mountainous regions ; 

 while the luxuriant forest plains of the Amazons, in which so 

 many other forms of life reach their maximum, are very poor 

 in humming-birds. Brazil, being more hilly and with more 

 variety of vegetation, is richer, but does not equal the Andean 

 valleys, plateaux, and volcanic peaks. Each separate district 

 of the Andes has its peculiar species and often its peculiar 

 genera, and many of the great volcanic mountains possess 

 kinds which are confined to them. Thus, on the great 

 mountain of Pichincha there is a peculiar species found at an 

 elevation of about fourteen thousand feet only ; while an 



