THE CAYENNE FAIRY. 73 



THE CAYENNE FAIRY. 



The beautiful little Cayenne fairy (Heliothrix auritus) is 

 often seen flitting among the flowers which adorn the trees 

 near the mouth of the Amazon. It may be known by the 

 snowy-white under part of its body, while the upper surface 

 is of a glossy golden green, extremely light on the forehead. 

 The middle feathers of the tail are blue-black, and the three 

 exterior ones are white. Across each side of the face is a 

 jet-black line, terminated by a small tuft of violet -blue, 

 while below the black line runs a luminous green one. Few 

 of these beautiful little creatures have any voice which rises 

 above a mere twitter. 



The best songster of the tribe is the Vervain humming-bird, 

 found in the West India Islands. Those on the Amazon are 

 almost mute. Small as they are, they are brave little crea- 

 tures, arid several of the species are tamed without difficulty. 



Mr. Webber describes one of the means by which nature has 

 gifted these little creatures of escaping the observation of their 

 foes. On leaving the spot where a number had perched not 

 far from their nests, he observed them shoot suddenly and 

 perpendicularly into the air till they had got out of sight. 

 After a time, down came the hen bird, like a fiery aerolite 

 from the sky, upon the very spot where she had built her 

 nest, so rapidly, as almost to escape observation. 



Different species, of great varieties of form and colour, are 

 found throughout the continent. Although the greater num- 

 ber are confined to particular localities, others have a wide 

 range. 



The Trochilus forficatus is found over a space of 2500 

 miles on the west coast, from the hot, dry country of Lima to 



