798 



it sucked with great avidity. In this manner it was 

 brought up until lit for the cage. I kept it upwards 

 of three months, supplied it with loaf sugar dissolved 

 in water, which it preferred to honey and water, gave 

 it fresh flowers every morning sprinkled with the 

 liquid, and surrounded the space in which I kept it 

 with gauze, that it might not injure itself. It appeared 

 gay, active, and full of spirit, hovering from flower to 

 flower as if in its native wilds, and always expressed, 

 by its motions and chirping, great pleasure at seeing 

 fresh flowers introduced into its cage. Numbers of 

 people visited it from motives of curiosity, and I took 

 every precaution to preserve it, if possible, through 

 the winter. Unfortunately, however, by some means 

 it grot at large, and, flying about the room, so injured 

 itself that it very soon died. 



" This little bird is extremely susceptible of cold, 

 and, if long deprived of the animating influence of the 

 Miii-ln'imis droops and soon dies. A very beautiful 

 male was brought me this season (1806), which 1 put 

 into a wire cage, and placed in a retired shaded part 

 of the room ; after fluttering about for some time, the 

 weather being uncommonly cool, it clung by the wires, 

 and hung in a seemingly terrified state for a whole 

 forenoon. No motion whatever of the lungs could 

 be perceived on the closest inspection, though at 

 other times this is remarkably observable ; the eyes 

 were shut, and, when touched by the finger, it gave 

 no signs of life or motion ; I carried it out to the 

 open air, and placed it directly in the rays of the sun, 

 in a sheltered situation ; in a few seconds respiration i 

 became very apparent, the bird breathed faster and I 

 faster, opened its eyes, and began to look about with 

 as much vivacity as ever. After it had completely 

 recovered, I restored it to liberty, and it flew oft' to 

 the withered top of a pear-tree, where it sat for ' 

 some time dressing its disordered plumage, and then 

 shot off like a meteor. 



" The flight of the humming-birds, from flower to 

 flower, greatly resembles that of a bee, but is so much 

 more rapid, that the latter appears a mere loiterer to 

 him. He poises himself on wing, while he thrusts his 

 long slender tubular tongue into the flowers in search 

 of food. He sometimes enters a room by the window, 

 examines the bouquets of flowers, and passes out of 

 the opposite door or window. He has been known 

 to take refuge in a hothouse during the cool nights 

 of autumn, to go regularly out in the morning, and to 

 return as regularly in the evening, for several days 

 together." 



The great extent of country over which this little 

 creature passes, and the severe and almost incessant 

 labour it undergoes, considering its very minute size, are ; 

 not among the least wonderful facts in the whole his- ' 

 tory of animated nature. Upon examining a little more 

 closely, we find some circumstances connected with 

 it, which would convince us, if such a conviction were 

 necessary, that the energy of animals, taken in their 

 whole economy, is always in proportion to the deve- i 

 lopment of its circulating system. The heait of this 

 little bird is perhaps larger in proportion to the whole I 

 size than that of almost any other animal, in order 

 that the rapidity of circulation, which is essential j 

 to the performance of the great and continued mus- i 

 cular efforts which the bird must make, may be sup- j 

 ported by a corresponding nervous energy ; the brain I 

 is also very large in proportion to the size of the bird ; 

 the stomach, on the other hand, is remarkably small, 

 equal to a small fraction of the heart only, which 



HUMMING-BIRD. 



is very different from the relative size of the two or- 

 gans in the majority of animals. In almost every 

 specimen of this species which has been observed 

 with sufficient attention, the stomach has been found 

 to contain chiefly insects and their remains, which 

 leaves no doubt as to the principal food of at least 

 this species of humming-bird. One of the most ex- 

 traordinary circumstances connected with it, is the 

 varying colour of the plumage of the throat. We 

 have mentioned golden red as the general tint, but ac- 

 cording as the light falls on it, it varies through 

 every hue, from deep black, in every imaginable 

 shade of red and green, up to a glow of light, bearing 

 some resemblance to the white heat of an intense 

 furnace ; and every one of those countless differences 

 of colour has the same radiance of metallic mixture. 



BLCE-THROATED HUMMING-BIRD (C. Lucifer}. 

 This is a very beautiful and delicately formed bird, 

 with the bill very long, and slightly arched. The 

 upper part is bright yellowish green, passing into 

 greenish on the flanks, and into a tint nearly white 

 on the under part of the body, which tint is purest ou 

 the sides of the neck, and contrasts well with the 

 hind neck, where the green is deepest. The most 

 striking character of the bird, however, is the orna- 

 mental feathers of the male ; these consist of small 

 ear-tufts of pale feathers directed backward, and not 

 remarkable for their beauty ; but the gorget under 

 the throat, hanging down over the front and sides 

 of the neck, is very splendid : it consists of well de- 

 fined scale-shaped feathers, rounded at their extremi- 

 ties, and very neatly imbricated. The medium colour 

 of these is a very pure bluish violet ; but according 

 to the refraction of the light, the colour varies from a 

 fine pink to the most intense ultramarine blue. The 

 wings are long and falchion shaped, of a brownish 

 purple colour, and slightly bordered with whitish ; the 

 tail feathers are nearly of the same colour as the 

 wings, with the exception of the middle ones, which are 

 greenish yellow ; the tail is much forked, and the 

 lateral feathers are sharp pointed, with a little portion 

 of the inner web, toward the tip, white. This species 

 has been found in Mexico, but neither the female nor 

 the nest has been described. 



AMETHYST HUMMING-BIRD (C. ametkystinus). 

 This is a very beautiful species, and has been long 

 known as a native both of Brazil and of Guiana. 

 Its bill is long and straight, and its whole form neat ; 

 the upper parts are bright golden green, and the under 

 grey, passing into greyish white on the lower part of 

 the neck, and the under tail coverts. This last colour 

 forms a sort of crescent round the lower margin of 

 the gorget, which is composed of very compact scaly 

 feathers, of a bright amethyst colour ; the tail i 

 deeply forked, and the lateral feathers slender and 

 pointed. This is the marking of the adult male ; but 

 in the young birds there are considerable varieties of 

 colour, and also in the form of the tail ; in them, the 

 feathers on the chin and throat have not the form of 

 scales, and they are white ; the tail also is not forked ; 

 the colour of the breast is gradually acquired ; and so 

 is the fork of the tail. In consequence of these 

 changes, the bird is liable to be considered as several 

 species ; and there are, if not some varieties, at least 

 some species, nearly resembling this one, of which 

 specimens have occasionally been seen. The chief 

 difference is in the colour of the gorget, which ap- 

 proaches to a ruby colour in some of them, while in. 

 others it has less of the reddish tint than occurs in the 



