128 PASSERES. TROCHILID^E. 



his figure was taken from a dried specimen. He 

 says, "it is beyond contradiction the smallest of 

 all those yet known, and without doubt is the 

 'very little Humming-bird' of voyagers. Its length 

 is 2 inches and 4 lines." But that it is the Tro- 

 chilus minimus of Linnaeus, BufFon, Edwards, and 

 Latham, who can imagine, that puts any faith in 

 testimony? Edwards' figure, which is said to be 

 "of its natural bigness," measures 1^ inch; that 

 in the PL Enl. 276. fig. 1, is about If ; and 

 Latham, who says expressly, "/ have received this 

 from Jamaica," gives its total length 1 J inch, and that 

 of its beak, 3J lines. It is true the description 

 as to colouring, &c., bears a very close resemblance 

 to mine, but no one accustomed to the precision of 

 science could mistake %\ inches for 1 \ \ * Neither is 

 it possible that these minute specimens can be the 

 young of the present species ; for nestling Humming- 

 birds, even when not half-fledged, are very little less 

 in size than the adult, and, when able to leave the 

 nest, are scarcely to be distinguished as to dimen- 

 sions. Moreover, having reared this species I can 

 speak positively. But Mr. Bullock records having 

 obtained in Jamaica a species whose body was but 

 half an inch in length ; this specimen is understood 

 to have become the possession of the late George 

 Loddiges, Esq., and I have been assured by an 



* Yet Sloane describes his " Least Humming-bird," (Jam. 308) as 

 "about 1$ inch long, from the end of the bill to that of the tail," while 

 of his figure the bij^alone measures f inch, and the whole bird 2f, 

 As the worthy Doctor, however, is said to have taken his admeasure- 

 ments with his thumb-nail^ this slight variation is the less surprising. 



