334 



Crcajsurrj of Datura! $?t 



the two middle feathers of the tail no longer 

 than the rest. This species is said to be 

 principally found hi Surinam and Guiana, 

 where it frequents the banks of rivers and 

 brooks, the surface of wlu'eh they skim after 

 the manner of swallows. 



FORK-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. (Trocld- 

 lusforjicatus.) This species is chiefly notice- 

 able for the shining beauty of its tail-fea- 

 thers, which appear of a brilliant blue, green, 

 or golden colour, according to the lights in 

 which they are seen, and form a very long 

 and broad tail in proportion to the body of 

 the bird : the crown of the head is blue, and 

 a shining golden lustre pervades the rest of 

 the plumage, but it is trifling in comparison 

 with the beauty of the tail : the legs, feet, 

 and claws are black. 



BAR-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. (Trochttus 

 sparganurus.) This elegant bird is nearly 

 eight inches long : its colour is green-gold, 

 but not very bright, except on the throat, 

 where it is rich and brilliant : the tail is 

 long and strongly forked, and the feathers 

 are velvet-black, each being crossed by a 

 broad golden crimson bar, and rounded at 

 the end: bill and legs black. Native of 

 Peru. 



HARLEQUIN HUMMING-BIRD. (Trochilus 

 multicolor.) A highly elegant species, re- 

 markable for the variety of its colours. Its 

 length is about four inches ; the bill long, 

 slightly bent, and of a pale yellow hue : the 

 crown of the head, throat, neck, breast, upper 

 part of the back, rump, and wiug-eoverts, 

 fine gilded grass-green : the whole upper 

 part of the neck, ultramarine blue, divided 

 from the green of the back by a narrow black 

 bar ; the wings and tail light brown ; belly 

 and vent-feathers red ; wings long in pro- 

 portion to the bird ; tail rounded at the 

 tip. 



CRESTED HUMMING-BIRD. (TrocJiilus cris- 

 tatus.) This bird is a native of the West 

 Indies : the bill is slender, sharp-pointed, 

 incurvatcd, and blackish ; the top of the 

 head, from the bill to the hinder part, which 

 terminates in a crest, is partly green and 

 partly blue, and shines with a most brilliant 

 metallic lustre : the plumage on the upper 

 part of the body and wings is dark green 

 intermixed with gold colour ; the breast and 

 belly are of a dingy grey ; the tail is a bluish- 

 black, glossy on the upper surface ; and the 

 legs and feet, which are very small, are 

 blackish. 



SAPPHIRE AND EMERALD HUMMING-BIRD. 

 (Trochilus bicolor.) The two brilliant colours 

 with which this bird is invested, not only 

 merit the title of the gems by which they are 

 called, but possess a vivid metallic splendour 

 not exhibited by the gems themselves. The 

 sapphire colour covers the head and throat, 

 beyond which it blends with the lucid golden 

 emerald colour of the breast, belly, and back : 

 the wings are brown ; the tail glossy bluish- 

 black ; and the belly white : the upper man- 

 dible is black, the lower whitish. Native of 

 South America and the West Indies. 



RUBY-THROATED HUMMING-BIRD. (Tro- 

 chiius cohibris.) This beautiful species is 

 about three inches and a half in length from 

 the tip of the bill to that of the tail : the bill 



black ; the crown, upper part of the neck, 

 back, and coverts of the wings are of a most 

 resplendent and variable green and gold 

 colour ; the chin and throat rival the ruby 

 in brilliancy, changing, according to the 

 light, either into a burnished gold colour, 

 or a deep brown tint : the breast and belly 

 are white ; the wings and tail purplish- 

 brown, but the two middle tail-feathers 

 a;reen. It is a native of, and continues in 

 the southern parts of the American conti- 

 nent during the whole year, but appears in 

 North America only in summer. It breeds 

 "n Florida, Carolina, and some of the West 

 India islands ; and is even seen in Canada. 

 In that entertaining book, " The Canadian 

 Naturalist," this bird and its habits are thus 

 noticed in one of the "Conversations:" 



C. Ha ! there is what I have long wished 

 to see, a Humming-bird sucking the flowers. 

 There are two of them : let us take a closer 



ew of them. F. No, no : stay where you 

 are, and remain quite still, and talk in a 

 low_ voice ; for on the slightest alarm, and 

 their brilliant little eyes are glancing in every 

 direction, they shoot off with the straightncss 

 and speed of an arrow. See how they hover 

 on the wing, in front of the blossoms, quite 



N. AMERICAN HTJMM1NO-BIRD. 

 (TROCHILU8 OOL18RIS.) 



stationary, while their long tongue is in- 

 serted, but their wings vibrating so rapidly 

 as to be only visible as an indistinct cloud 

 on each side. C. One of them has suddenly 

 vanished, but I did not see him fly, though 

 I was watching him F. He has gone only 

 about a yard : you may see him stationary 

 again to the r'ght of where he was before. 

 These starts are so sudden and so rapid, that 

 they are often lost to the sight. C. How 

 very little and how very beautiful ! the body 

 glitters in the sun with green and gold, and 

 the throat is just like a glowing coal of fire. 

 Now they rest on a twig ; one of them I 

 perceive has not the brilliant throat of the 

 other. F. That is the female; in other 

 respects her plumage is like that of the 

 male. It is the Ruby-throated Humming- 

 bird (Trochttus coUbris), and is scattered 



