TUOCHILID.E— THE HUMMING P.IUDS. 44:; 



Mr. Salvia is of the opinion that Huniniinj^'-nirds do not remain h)n<; on 

 the rt'ing at once, but rest t're([uently, choosinj^ tor tliat purpose a small dead 

 or IcaHess twi;^ at the top, or just within the branches of the tree. AViiile 

 in this jHtsition ihey trim heir feathers and clean their bill, all the time 

 keeping up an incessant jerkin .j of their wings and tail. 



In Mexico, where tliese birdi are very abundant, they are attracted by tlie 

 blossoms of tlie Af/air Kmcricuna, and swarm around them like so many 

 beetles. As they Hy, they skim over the fields, riHe the llowers, miimling 

 with the bees and tiie buttertUes, and during the seasons of bloom, at cer- 

 tain hours of the day, the fields appear perfectly alive with them. The ear 

 receives unceasingly the whistling sounds of their tlight, and their slnill 

 cries, resembling in their sharp accent the clash of weapons. Although the 

 Humining-Bird always migrates at the apinoach of cold weatlier, yet it is 

 often to be found at verv considerable elevations. The traveller liourcier 

 met with them on the crater of richincha, and M. Saussure obtained sjieci- 

 mens of Calotliorax Indfcr in the Sierra de Ciiernavaca, at the heiglit of 

 more than 1),50() feet. 



While we must accept as a well-established fact that the IIumming-Birds 

 feed on insects, demonstrated long since by naturalists, it is eipially true 

 that they are very fond of the nectar of Howers, and that this, to a certain 

 extent, constitutes their nourishment. This is shown by the sustenance 

 whicli captive Humming-Birds receive from honey and otlier sweet sub- 

 stances, food to which a purely insectivorous bird could liardly ada[>t itself. 



\otwitlistanding their diminutive size the Humming-Birds are notorious 

 for their aggressive disposition. They attack with great fury anything that 

 excites their animositv, and maintain constant warfare with whatever is 

 obnoxious to them, expressly the Si)hinxes or Ilawk-Motlis. Whenever 

 one of these inoffensive moths, two or three times tlie size of a Ilumming- 

 Bird, chances to c^me too early into the garden and encountei> one of these 

 birds, he must give way or meet with certain injury. At sight of tlie 

 insect the bird attacks it with his pointed beak with great fury. The 

 Sphinx, overcome in this unlooked-for attack, beats a retreat, but, snon 

 returning to the attractive flowers, is again and again assaulted by its infu- 

 riated enemy. Certain destruction awaits these insects if they do not 

 retire from the field before their delicate wings, lacerated in these attacks, 

 can no longer support them, and they fall to the ground to perish from other 

 enemies. 



In other tliimjs the Humming-Bird also shows itseFall the more iiinierti- 

 neiit and aggressive that it is small and weak. It take3 olfence at every- 

 thing that moves near it. It attacks birds much larger ihan itself, and 

 is rarely disturbed or molested hy those it thus assails. All other birds 

 must make way. It is possible that in some of these attacks it may be in- 

 fluenced by an instinctive prompting of advantages to be gained, as in the 

 case of the spider, in whose nets they are liable to be entangled, and whose 



