HUMMING-BIRD. 



805 



form which is so characteristic of many of the hum- 

 ming-birds ; their feathers, in ", short, have more the 

 structure of clothing feathers which protect them from 

 the general temperature of the weather, while the tro- 

 pical plumage which breaks the sun-beams into so 

 many colours by refraction appears to be more a 

 protection against the action of that luminary. From 

 this circumstance, a humming-bird, in all probability, 

 while it scatters the solar light around it in all those 

 radiant lustres that are so much admired, remains 

 unaffected, and able to perform its very arduous and 

 incessant labour, under a degree of fervour which 

 would send the ordinary birds of our country panting 

 to the earth, or compel them to seek the cover of the 

 thick foliage, as most of our birds do in the sultry 

 hours of the summer's day. The humming-birds ap- 

 pear to be possessed of this faculty in a much higher 

 degree than the larger birds which are natives of the 

 same climate, and inhabit the same places ; for, as is 

 the case with our birds, these last are driven to the 

 shade during the heat of the day, and the fervid sun- 

 beam is left to the humming-birds, as the genuine 

 children of the sun. 



SUB-DIVISION IV. (Campylopterus). Literally 

 " curved wing," but the usual name given to this 

 form of wings is sabre-wing, or sickle-wing, the wing 

 being so much bent as to have some slight resem- 

 blance to one or another of these implements. The 

 characters of this sub-division stated in brief are : the 

 wings much bent, with the basal parts of the shafts 

 very much enlarged and compressed ; and the tail is 

 rounded, or staged, by having the longest feathers in 

 the middle, and those towards the sides gradually 

 shorter. The bill is rather long, a little bent, and 

 there is sometimes a slight approximation to a tooth, 

 in an angular elevation near the tip of the upper man- 

 dible. These wings, from the peculiar form of the 

 shafts of the quills, are stitfer and stronger in propor- 

 tion to their size than the wings of almost any other 

 birds whatever. The greater number of them fre- 

 quent damp woods and the margins of streams ; and 

 in all probability subsist chiefly upon insect food ; 

 and from the nature of the places which they haunt, 

 specimens are rare, and the birds themselves are 

 rarely seen. 



BLUE-THROATED SABRE-WING (C. latipennis). 

 The trivial name latipennis is not given to this bird 

 on account of the breadth of the webs of the feathers, 

 but on account of that of the shafts ; though the 

 wings themselves are very long, and the quills very 

 much bent. Hitherto the specimens have been pro- 

 cured from some of the West-India islands, especially 

 from the island of Tobago ; but as that island lies at 

 no great distance from the lower valley of the Ori- 

 noco, it is probable that the same birds are also found in 

 that valley. The length is nearly five inches and a half ; 

 the bill of moderate length considered as the bill of 

 a humming-bird ; the wings long and powerful ; and 

 the tail also powerful arid of considerable extent, 

 though not much longer than the closed wings. The 

 general colour of the body is golden green, very rich 

 and beautiful on the upper parts, and extending over 

 the lesser coverts of the wings, and the middle feathers 

 of the tail ; but in the under part it has more of a 

 yellowish tinge. The common English name is given 

 from the gorget, which is of a beautiful violet blue in 

 the middle part, passing into blackish blue on the 

 sides, but brilliant through its whole extent. It is 

 composed of scale-shaped feathers, and extends from 



the gape to the ear-coverts in nearly a straight line 

 upon each side ; but the upper part of the ear-covert 

 consists of two or three small green feathers imme- 

 diately behind and under the eye. It is rounded in 

 the under part, and extends only over the chin and 

 throat. The wings are purplish black ; and the cen- 

 tre feathers of the tail, though in some lights of 

 nearly the same gre"en as the back, are almost black 

 in other lights. The next pair are raven black, or 

 black with bluish reflections f and the three exterior 

 ones on each side have white tips for a considerable 

 part of their length. They are not so much day 

 birds as some others of the genus, but make their 

 appearance in greatest numbers in the evenings ; and 

 some reports state that they shift their ground with 

 the seasons. 



Other species, differing little from this one, ex- 

 cepting in colours, are found in various parts of the 

 West Indies and South America ; but they occur 

 only in low-lying places ; and though there is a 

 Mexican species, occurring on the table-land of that 

 country, which resembles them in some respects, yet 

 the quills of its wings, though very strong in the 

 shafts, have not the peculiar form of these. 



SUB-DIVISION V. (Lampornis). The birds of this 

 sub-division have the bill considerably arched ; and 

 the tail short, sometimes a little rounded, at other 

 times slightly forked, but never very far from being 

 even. 



MANGO HUMMING-BIRD (L. Mango). This is one 

 of the most common species in the West-India islands, 

 being found in almost all of them ; but owing to the 

 changes of plumage to which it is subject at different 

 ages, it has been multiplied into a number of species. 

 This is the more remarkable that the bird itself is 

 more easily observed than almost any of the others, 

 being hardy and familiar as well as common. When 

 full grown its length is about four inches and a quar- 

 ter ; the back, back of the neck, flanks, and lower tail 

 coverts are brilliant golden green ; and the forehead 

 and crown, in different lights, exhibit marked and 

 brilliant reflections of the same colour. A stripe of 

 deep velvet black, shaded into the sides with a very 

 bright steel blue, runs from the chin to the vent. A 

 narrow band of white bars the thighs where they join 

 the flank. The feathers of the tail are broad and 

 rounded at the tips ; the upper middle feathers are of 

 a beautiful golden green with reflections of violet ; 

 the others on the upper part, as well as the under 

 ones, are also of this tinge, but with a deeper hue 

 according as the various lights fall upon them. In 

 the young birds, the plumage on the upper part is of 

 a paler tint, more inclining to a golden brown, while 

 that on the under part is white, mixed with green on 

 the flanks, and having a line of blackish-brown mot- 

 tling from the chin to the centre of the belly. With 

 the exception of the upper surface of the two middle 

 feathers, which is of the same colour with the bade, 

 the tail feathers are pale, but clear violet ; and in the 

 very young state the exterior ones have white tips. 

 It is greatly owing to the number of times that these 

 birds breed in the course of the year, and the conse- 

 quent appearance of individuals in all the varied 

 stages of plumage at the same instant, that so much 

 confusion has been introduced into the popular descrip- 

 tions of this species ; and this shows how necessary it 

 is that we should attend to all the habits and changes 

 of appearance in every animal, of which our know- 

 ledge is to be at all correct, even in one particular. 



