HUMMING-BIRDS. 323 



a lovely orchid that affects these dense woods. There 

 also the Lycaste that bears the name of Lady Barring- 

 ton, whose waxen flowers of creamy white stand out 

 from the plexus of winding roots below the bulb, is 

 seen abundantly on the low trees, hardly aspiring to 

 rise above the ground : while the beauteous crimson 

 Broughtonia, one of the most charming of all our 

 orchids, frequently seats itself among the boughs of 

 some lofty fig or Santa Maria, some eighty or a hun- 

 dred feet above the spectator. 



I called this lane lonely. Nay ; for it is populous 

 with gay life. One of the very loveliest of birds, not 

 of Jamaica only, but of the whole world, makes this 

 secluded spot his most chosen resort. Look along the 

 avenue ! Why, within a score yards, there are a 

 dozen humming-birds in sight at the same moment ; 

 and what humming-birds ! They are ah 1 of the same 

 species the very gem of our ornithology ; Polytmus, 

 the long-tailed. Brighter-coloured kinds you may 

 find in Bolivia or Peru ; but for elegance of form, 

 combined with tasteful beauty, I think our little 

 friends here can seldom be excelled. As they flit to 

 and fro, visit the flowers, disappear within the sha- 

 dowy woods, shoot again into the sunlight, hang on 

 invisible wings over a blossom, probe it for the 

 nectar, cling to its corolla with the tiny purple feet, 

 dart out after a gnat, dash at a rival in the air, 

 whirl round and round in playful combat, return 

 to the flowers, suck, and suck again, they give us 

 ample opportunity to approach them, and mark 



