WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 133 



to bear it : — see it darting tlirongli the air almost 

 as quick as thought ! — now it is within a yard of 

 your face! — in an instant gone! — now it flutters 

 from flower to flower to sip the silver dew — it is 

 now a ruby — now a topaz — now an emerald — now 

 all burnished gold ! It would be arrogant to pre- 

 tend to describe this winged gem of nature after 

 Buff on 's elegant description of it. 



Cayenne and Demerara produce the same hum- 

 ming-birds. Perhaps you would wish to know 

 something of their haunts. Chiefly in the months 

 of July and August the tree called Bois Immortel, 

 very common in Demerara, bears abundance of 

 red blossom, which stays on the tree some weeks; 

 then it is that most of the different species of 

 humming-birds are very plentiful. The wild red 

 sage is also their favourite shrub, and they buzz 

 like bees round the blossoms of the wallaba-tree. 

 Indeed, there is scarce a flower in the interior, or 

 on the sea-coast, but what receives frequent visits 

 from one or other of the species. 



On entering the forests, on the rising land in 

 the interior, the blue and green, the smallest 

 brown, no bigger than the bumblebee, with two 

 long feathers in the tail, and the little forked-tail 

 purple-throated humming-birds, glitter before 

 you in ever-changing attitudes. One species alone 

 never shows his beauty to the sun; and were it 

 not for his lovely shining colours, you might al- 

 most be tempted to class him with the goatsuckers 

 on account of his habits. He is the largest of all 

 the humming-birds, and is all red and changing 

 gold green, except the head, which is black. He 

 has two long feathers in the tail, which cross each 



