486 



The Living Animals of the World 



Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea. 



RUBY-THROATED HUMMING-BIRDS. 

 About 5CO distinct species of humming-birds are known. 



Confined to the American Continent and 

 certain islands adjacent thereto, humming- 

 birds range from Canada to Tierra del Fuego 

 in a horizontal direction, and rise vertically 

 in the mountain-range of Chimborazo to a 

 height of 16,000 feet above the sea-level 

 " dwelling," as Professor Newton describes it, 

 " in a world of almost constant hail, sleet, and 

 rain, and feeding on the insects which resort 

 to the indigenous flowering plants." 



Humming-birds surpass all others in the 

 wondrous beauty of their plumage, which 

 depends not so much on colour as metallic 

 lustre reflecting all the hues of the most 

 precious stones amethyst, ruby, sapphire, 

 emerald, and topaz gleaming and sparkling 

 from their bodies with a fire and intensity truly 

 marvellous. " In some cases," as Professor 

 Newton aptly describes it, " this radiance beams 

 from the brow, in some it glows from the 

 throat, in others it shines from the tail-coverts, 

 in others it sparkles from the tips of elongated feathers that crest the head or surround the 

 neck as with a . frill, while again in others it may appear as a luminous streak across the 

 cheek. . . . The feathers that .cover the upper parts of the body very frequently have a 

 metallic lustre of golden green, which in other birds would be thought sufficiently beautiful, 

 but in the [humming-birds] its sheen is overspread by the almost dazzling splendour that 

 radiates from the spots where Nature's lapidary has set her jewels." 



Besides this brilliancy of colour and variety in form variety due to the development of 

 these crests and frills, or to the forking and elongation of the tail-feathers still further 

 changes are brought about by the modification of the bill, which may be produced into a long 

 straight style, longer than the body of the bird, or turned up like that of the avocet or down 

 like that of the curlew. These changes are adaptations to the bird's methods of feeding, 

 some seeking their food from the long tubular corollas of flowers, and requiring, therefore, very 

 elongated beaks, others from more open and easily accessible flowers, whilst others hunt among 

 leaves, especially the under-surfaces, the quarry consisting mainly of insects attracted by 

 the honey secreted by the flowers, or those living on the leaves. Not only the beak but 

 the tongue also has undergone great modification in this group, its outer sheath curling 

 up on each side into a thin scroll, so as to form a pair of tubes, the exact use of which is 

 unknown. The wings, like those of the swift, have undergone a certain amount of change 

 in the relative proportion of the several regions, and in the form and number of the quill- 

 feathers, whilst the legs have become considerably reduced in size. In some species each leg 

 is surrounded by a little tuft of down, which may be black, brown, or snow-white in colour. 

 In size these birds vary from 8 inches to scarcely more than 3 inches. 



" The beautiful nests of humming-birds," writes Professor Newton, " than which the fairies 

 could not have conceived more delicate . . . will be found on examination to be very solidly and 

 tenaciously built, though the materials are generally of the slightest cotton-wool, or some 

 vegetable down, and spiders' webs. They vary greatly in form and ornamentation for it would 

 seem that the portions of lichen which frequently bestud them are affixed to their exterior with 

 that object, though probably concealment was the original intention. They are mostly cu}>- 

 shaped ; and the singular fact is on record, that in one instance, as the young grew, the walls 

 were heightened by the parents, until at last the nest was more than twice as big as when 

 the eggs were laid and hatched." 



