94 Wonders of the Bird World 



a song, one never sees the Loddigesia inactive for any length 

 of time. The females are not so shy as the adult males, 

 and their flight presents no difference from that of other 

 Humming-birds, but it is perfectly wonderful to observe the 

 incredible swiftness and precision with which it passes 

 across the densest thickets, where the bird is obliged to 

 change the direction of its flight many times in a second 

 in order to avoid the obstacles which it encounters at 

 every turn of its course. On arresting its flight at 

 the calyces of the flowers, the Loddigesia balances its 

 tail in the same way as the long-tailed Lesbia and other 

 Humming-birds. The two lateral tail-feathers of the 

 adult male are so arranged in flight, that the two 

 rackets mutually approach each other. This operation 

 is effected mechanically; as the tail-feathers are able 

 to turn themselves to a certain point in their basal tube, 

 the slightest opposition in the air suffices to produce 

 a similar position. One can prove this in recently killed 

 specimens. These tail-feathers remain therefore crossed, 

 and the further point of this crossing takes places quite 

 close to the commencement of the rackets. 



"The humming noise produced by the hen bird in its 

 flight can be easily distinguished, after a slight experience, 

 from that of the long-tailed Lesbia gracilis, its persistent 

 persecutor. It emits a higher note, which is to be explained 

 by its shorter wings. The male, which has even shorter 

 wings than the female, produces a humming in a still higher 

 key, and one can detect the presence of a male bird by its 

 humming alone, without even seeing it. The reunions in 

 which the Loddigesia indulges, constitute one of the most 

 interesting facts in the bird's economy. The observations 

 were made by me at Osmal, where two or three males 

 gathered together, and later at Tamiapampa, where from 

 five to eight immature males, of the same age, used to 

 assemble and carry out their curious manoeuvres. In the 



