112 PASSERES. TROCHILID^E. 



me ; I drew up and observed it carefully, and 

 distinctly saw the minute flies in the air, which 

 it pursued and caught, and heard repeatedly the 

 snapping of the beak. My presence scarcely dis- 

 turbed it, if at all. 



The neck in these birds is very long; but 

 appears short, because it forms a sigmoid curve 

 downward, which is concealed by the feathers of 

 the breast: the trachea is therefore long, and 

 its appearance is singular, because the dilatation 

 from which the bronchi divide, is near the middle 

 of the whole length, the bronchi being full half 

 an inch in length ; they run down side by side, 

 however, and are in fact soldered together for 

 about half of their length: though the tubes are 

 still distinct, as appears by a transverse section. 

 Our two other species I have proved to have the 

 same conformation. 



When I left England, I had laid myself out for 

 the attempt to bring these radiant creatures alive 

 to this country : and after a little acquaintance 

 with the Jamaican species, Polytmus seemed, from 

 its beauty, its abundance, its size, its docility, 

 and its mountain habitat, to be the species at 

 once most likely to succeed, and most worthy of 

 the effort. My expectations were disappointed: 

 yet as the efforts themselves made me more fa- 

 miliar with their habits, the reader, I trust, will 

 pardon some prolixity of detail in the narration 

 of these attempts. Very many were caught by 

 myself and my lads : the narrow path on Bluefields 

 peak already mentioned, was the locality to which 



