CHAPTER X. 



HUMMING-BIRDS (tROCHILID.E) OF THE CORDILLERAS AND 



WESTERN COAST. 



^E should scarcely have expected to find the smallest 

 specimens of the feathered tribe inhabiting the 

 same region as the mighty, coarse-feeding condor ; 

 but whereas the latter pounces down on his carrion banquet 

 into the plains below, the little humming-bird seeks his food 

 fi'om the bright flowers which clothe the mountain-side, or 

 the minute insects which fly amid them. 



Humminff-birds are found throuohout the whole of the 

 New World, from the borders of the gTeat Canadian lakes, 

 alono; the entire rano-e of the Cordilleras, down to the shores 

 of Tierra del Fuego ; also in the West India Islands, and over 

 the whole wide-extending plains watered by the Orinoco, the 

 Amazon, and other great rivers which empty themselves into 

 the Atlantic. The greater number of the species exist about 

 the equator, and, as might be expected, diminish as we pro- 

 ceed either to the south or north. 



They obtain their name on account of the humming sound 

 which their wings produce when they are hovering over the 

 flowers in which thev seek their food. The sound, however, 



