21 



for Catesby saw them throughout the year at 

 St. Domingo and Mexico, where nature never en- 

 tirely loses her bloom. Sloane says the same of 

 Jamaica, only that they are more numerous after 

 the rainy season. Marcgrave mentions them as 

 being frequent the whole year in the woods of 

 Brazil. The method of obtaining these minute 

 birds is to shoot them with sand, or by means 

 of the trunk-gun : they will allow one to ap- 

 proach within five or six paces of them. It is 

 easy to lay hold of the little creature while it 

 hums at the blossom. It dies soon after it is 

 caught, and serves to decorate the Indian girls, 

 who wear two of these charming birds as pen- 

 dants from their ears. The Indians indeed, are 

 so struck and dazzled with the brilliancy of their 

 various hues, that they have named them, the 

 Beams , or Locks of the Sun. Such is the his- 

 tory of this little being, who flutters from flower 

 to flower ; breathes their freshness, wantons on 

 the wings of the cooling zephyrs, sips the nec- 

 tar of a thousand sweets, and resides in climes 

 where reigns the beauty of eternal spring. 



