C^HAPTER XIII. 



BIRDS. 



HUMMING-BIRDS. 



OST of the humming-birds found on the banks of the 

 Amazon belong to the genus Phsethomis ; i-emark- 

 able for their long, graduated tails, the central 

 feathers of which greatly exceed the others. Their nests are 

 curious and beautiful, being formed in a long funnel-like shape, 

 tapering below to a slender point. They are woven with 

 great delicacy, and attached to some twig, or hanging leaf, by 

 means of spider's webs. They are lined with a soft silky 

 cotton fibre ; and composed, externally, of a woolly kind of 

 furze, bound together with which appears also to be spider's 

 web. 



One of the largest is the Eupetomena macrom^a, with a 

 swallow tail, and a livery of brilliant emerald green and steel 

 blue. When feeding, it remains a shorter time than usual 

 poised in the air before the flowers, frequently perching, and 

 occasionally darting after small insects flying by. 



When the orange-trees become fully covered with flowers, 

 the humming-birds appear in vast numbers. Their motions 



