HUMMING-BIRD. 



There are several species, or varieties, resembling 

 these in many of their characters, to be met with in 

 museums and collections, almost all of which have 

 been brought from central America, but their history 



This species is a native of Cayenne, ft is about is so well known, that a mere enumeration of their 

 three inches eight lines in length. The prevailing 

 colour of the upper parts is brownish red, with bril- 

 liant metallic reflections of a green lustre on the back ; 



804 



and the undermost of these is joined with the rictus 

 by another stripe which entirely encircles the eye 

 and ear coverts. 



LONGUEM ARE'S HUMMING-BIRD (P. Longuemarcus). 



the feathers on the top of the head, which form a sort 

 of cowl, are dark reddish brown, and the sides of 

 the neck are of the same colour; the under parts are 

 reddish yellow, a shade darker on the throat and 

 breast ; the under coverts of the tail are pure white ; 

 the tail is wedge shaped, of considerable length, but 

 the centre feathers do not extend nearly so much 

 beyond the others as in some of the species we have 

 just noticed. 



RED-BELLIED HDMMING-BIRD (P. rufigagter). This 

 pretty little bird is only three inches in length from 

 the tip of the bill to the end of the tail. The bill 

 and tail occupy about two-thirds of the extreme 

 length, so that the body is not more than one inch 

 long; the crown is of a greyish colour, and above a 

 supercilious stripe of white extends to the ear coverts ; 

 the upper parts of the back and neck are of a chestnut 

 red, with golden green reflections ; the under parts 

 are also of this colour, except that it is of a lighter 

 shade on the throat, and changes to a yellowish white 

 tinge on the chin ; the tail is brown, tinged with red- 

 dish white ; the centre feathers are beautified with 

 golden green reflections, and the extending tips are 

 pure white. It is a native of Brazil. 



DAVID'S HUMMING-BIRD (P. Davidianus). A figure 

 of this species is given in No. 2 of the plate HUM- 

 MING BIRDS. It is nearly of the same size and form 

 as the red-bellied species. The general tint of the 

 plumage is brown, paler, and slightly mottled with 

 yellowish on the under part. The top of the head is 

 furnished with produced feathers, which form a crest 

 of considerable length ; the tail is broad and rounded. 

 It is found on the continental part of tropical America, 

 and named by Lessou after David the French painter. 



HAIKY-I.EGGED HUMMING-BIRD (P. hirsutus). The 

 tarsi of this species are not so completely feathered 

 as those of the hairy-legged rocket-tail formerly de- 

 scribed ; but still they are sufficiently so for entitling 

 the bird to the name by which it is known. It is by 

 no means a rare species, being found in many of the 

 West India islands, and also in Mexico, though it is 

 said not to be very common in the latter country. 

 It is about four inches in length, of which the bill and 

 tail occupy about the half. The bill is regularly but 

 not greatly curved, rather stout at the base, and 

 tapering gradually to the tip ; the upper parts are of 

 a shining brownish green with bronze-coloured reflec- 

 tions, except some of the lesser coverts of the wings, 

 which are bluish ; the under parts are bright reddish 

 brown ; the tail is of a similar colour, but redder ; the 

 tips of all the feathers, save the centre ones, are white ; 

 and immediately within the white there is a broad 

 black bar. 



SWAINSON'S HUMMING-BIRD (P. Swainsonu). This 

 species was first described as a Brazilian bird by 

 Swainson ; it is about three inches in length, and has 

 the upper part yellowish green, with yellow margins 

 to some of the feathers, and the under part chestnut ; 

 the middle feathers of the tail are green, the others 

 yellow with white tips, and within the white there is 

 a bar of black crossing the feathers. 



colonies would be waste of time. 



SAW-BILLED SPOTTED HDMMING-BIUD (P. ruevosui). 

 This bird has been found chiefly, if not exclusively, 

 in the mountainous parts of Brazil, near Rios, to which 

 we have already alluded as being the favourite resort 

 of a vast number of this curious species of birds. Its 

 length is about five inches ; the whole of the upper 

 parts are olive green, w r ith metallic reflections, which 

 are very brilliant, especially on the shoulders and 

 wing-coverts ; the ear-coverts, as well as a tuft of 

 produced feathers which passes down the sides of the 

 neck, are of a bright reddish brown, deeper under the 

 eye, and at the extremities of the auriculars, where it 

 contrasts beautifully in relief with a pale stripe of a 

 similar colour, that extends from the eye ; the wings 

 are of great strength, and the shafts are of propor- 

 tional power ; their colour is purplish green ; the 

 tail is rounded ; the middle feathers, as well as the 

 basal parts of the outer ones, are of a similar colour 

 to the wings ; the outer feathers, next the centre, are 

 of a pale yellowish brown at the tips, and in the other 

 feathers, taken outward from the centre, this yellow- 

 ish portion becomes gradually more extended, which 

 gives a bold relief to the dark spots on the rest of the 

 feathers. The bill of this bird is the most singular 

 part of its structure ; it is long, strong, rather broad, 

 straight in the greater part of the length, but curving 

 slightly downwards in the upper mandible, and very 

 slightly upwards in the under one, which is shorter 

 than the other ; the portion of the upper one which 

 extends beyond the under, forms a little hook, and 

 both mandibles are, for about one-third of their length 

 from the hook, armed with pretty strong teeth directed 

 backwards, and thus resembling the mandibles of the- 

 mergansers, and some other aquatic birds, which seize 

 their prey by a rapid snatch with the bill while they 

 are driving through the water. From this structure 

 of the bill, it is natural to conclude that those birds 

 seize their food on the wing, not by straight-forward 

 flight like the swifts, as the form of the tail does not 

 adapt them for beating the air in the same manner as 

 the swifts do ; but as the breadth and power of the 

 tail enable them to ascend and descend with great ra- 

 pidity, it is probable that they snatch small insects 

 from the flowers and leaves of plants, or even from 

 the ground, without alighting, and their very small 

 and weak feet are proof that they are not in any way 

 ground birds, or capable of using the foot for any 

 other purpose than simply that of perching. It is 

 worthy of remark, too, that in this species, as well as 

 in the others that are decidedly mountainous, we 

 find a breaking or mottling of the colours, which is 

 not found in the species which inhabit the low and 

 warm places. Thus we have, as it were, even in birds 

 which may be said to be chiefly tropical, as well as 

 wholly American, some sort of approximation to the 

 variety of colour which characterises the birds of dif- 

 ferent climates. On the eastern continent the tropi- 

 cal birds, generally speaking, have their colours en- 

 tire, and are remarkable either for the beauty of their 

 tints, or the brilliancy of their metallic lustres. The 

 birds of the colder climates again have their colours 

 more broken, more sober in the tints, less brilliant in 

 metallic reflections, and very seldom of that scaly 



