402 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



tice of the breeder." The commendations of 

 Dixon are also equally decided. 



We scarcely know what more can be desired 

 in a fowl, than is conceded to the Black Spanish 

 by these, and other distinguished writers whom 

 we have not yet quoted. Color in fowls is a 

 matter of taste ; we do not like black fowls, or 

 fowls with lilac-colored legs, and always mark 

 Buch as the first for the spit or the gridiron. 



There is one other fact in regard to the Black 

 Spanish, and that is their value as early pullets 

 for laying purposes in the autumn and winter af- 

 ter they are hatched. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 OB NIT HO LOGY. 

 BY S. P. FOWLER. 



In our long list of birds, there is not one so beau- 

 tiful and diminutive, as the Ruby-throated hum- 

 ming bird, its metallic lustre of plumage render- 

 ing it a perfect jewel of ornithology. There have 

 been, as yet, but five species of humming birds 

 discovered in the United States : these are, the 

 Ruby-throated humming bird, (Trochiius colu- 

 bris) every where common in the Atlantic States ; 

 the Mango humming bird ( T. Mango,) occasion- 

 ally found in Florida ; the Anna humming bird 

 (T. Anna,) found in California ; the Rufus throat- 

 ed humming bird, (T. ii'j^/ws ;) and the Purple- 

 throated humming bird {T. Alexandri,) first de- 

 tected by Dr. Heerman at Sacramento City. Of 

 the three hundred and twenty-five species of 

 humming birds now known, but one, the Ruby- 

 throated, is found in New England. Mr. Cassin, 

 in his "Birds of America," says, in size the hum- 

 ming birds vary much. The Giant humming bird 

 of Brazil, which is the largest, though one of the 

 plainest, is about the size of the Chimney bird of 

 the United States, and several fine species of the 

 later discoveries in this group are but little 

 smaller. Several species are quite as large as the 

 house wren. On the other hand, there are 

 humming birds little larger than the humble bee 

 of our meadows ; and there are many species of 

 beetles and other coleopterous insects, that are 

 much larger. The common ruby-throated hum- 

 ming bird of the United States, is a medium 

 species, and of respectable dimensions, when 

 compared with some of his pigmy brethren of the 

 far South. Mr. William H. Edwards, in a 

 "Voyage up the Amazon," thus describes the little 

 Hermit humming bird : "Wherever a creeping 

 vine opens its fragrant clusters, or wherever a 

 tree flower blooms, may these little birds be seen. 

 In the garden or in the woods, over the water, 

 everywhere, they are darting about ; of all sizes, 

 from one that might easily be mistaken for a dif- 

 ferent variety of bird, to the tiny Hermit (Tro- 

 chiius rupigaster,) whose body is not half the 

 size of the bees buzzing about the same sweets. 

 Sometimes they are seen chasing each other in 

 sport, with a rapidity of flight, and intricacy of 

 path, the eye is puzzled to follow. Again circling 

 round and round, they rise high in mid-air, then 

 dart off' like light to some distant attraction. 

 Perched upon a little limb, they smooth their 

 plumes, and seem to delight in their dazzling 



hues ; then starting off leisurely, they skim along, 

 stopping capriciously to kiss the coquetting flow- 

 erets. Often two meet in mid-air and fight furi- 

 ously, their crests and the feathers on their 

 throats, all erected and blazing, and altogether 

 pictures of the most violent rage. Several times 

 we saw them battling with large black bees, who 

 frequent the same flowers, and may be supposed 

 to interfere often provokingly. Like lightning, 

 our little heroes would come down, but the coat 

 of shining mail would ward off their furious 

 strokes. Again and again would they renew the 

 attack, until their anger had expended itself by 

 its own fury, or until the apathetic bee, once 

 roused, had put forth powers that drove the iu- 

 vader from the field." 



From this description of the habits of the 

 humming bird, from the banks of the Amazon, 

 we perceive it differs but little from our ruby- 

 throated gem, which is made by some ornitholo- 

 gists the type of a genus. The humming bird is 

 distinguished for its rapid flight, and has what is 

 called a falcated, or sword-shaped form of wing 

 that is possessed by no other bird. It is this 

 form of pinion that causes the humming sound 

 by its rapid vibrations. It is large for the size of 

 the bird, and of great power, and when in motion 

 the whole body is completely under its control. 

 As the tiny birds moves in their quick and rapid 

 flight, darting from side to side, their bodies seem 

 but appendages, and sway and swerve like flow- 

 ing dresses in the wind. It was for a long time 

 supposed that humming birds subsisted upon th« 

 nectar of flowers only ; it is now ascertained that 

 small dipterous insects form their principal food. 

 The habits of the ruby-throated humming birds 

 are so well known to the readers of the Neic 

 England Farmer that I Avill not repeat what has 

 been written by our ornithologists. Mr. Charles 

 Waterton, the eccentric and enthusiastic orni- 

 thologist who rode the Cayman in the rivers of 

 Demerara, takes exceptions to Mr. Audubon's ac- 

 count of the humming bird, where he says, that 

 in one week from their hatching they are able to 

 fly. Waterton remarks that "Mr. Audubon tells 

 us, that in one Aveek the young of the ruby- 

 throated humming bird are ready to fly. One 

 would suppose, by this, that they must be hatched 

 with a good coating of feathers to begin with. 

 Old dame nature sometimes performs odd pranks. 

 We are informed that our crooked-back Dicky 

 the Third was born with teeth ; and Ovid men- 

 tions the astonishingly quick growth of certain 

 men. He says, in his account of the adventures 

 of Captain Cadmus, who built Thebes, that the 

 captain employed some men as masons, who had 

 just sprung up out of the earth. I have Mr. Au- 

 dubon's account of the growth of the humming 

 bird, and I have read Mr. Ovid's account of the 

 growth of Captain Cadmus' masons, and both 

 very attentively. I think the veracity of the one 

 is as apparent as the veracity of the other. What, 

 in the name of skin and feathers, I ask, has Mr. 

 Audubon found in the economy of the ruby- 

 throated humming bird, to enable him to inform 

 Englishmen, that its young can fly in so short a 

 space of time ? The young of no other bird, that 

 we are acquainted with, from the Condor to the 

 Wren, can fly when only a week eld." With all 

 due allowance for the prejudices of Mr. Water- 

 ton against our great ornithologist, we still think 



