118 WANDERINGS IN 



SECOND ne ver shows his beauty to the sun ; and were it 



JOURNEY. 



not for his lovely shining colours, you might almost 



be tempted to class him with the goat-suckers, on 

 account of his habits. He is the largest of all the 

 humming-birds, and is all red and changing gold 

 green, except the head, which is black. He has 

 two long feathers in the tail, which cross each 

 other, and these have gained him the name of 

 Karabimiti, or Ara humming-bird, from the In- 

 dians. You never find him on the sea-coast, or 

 where the river is salt, or in the heart of the 

 forest, unless fresh water be there. He keeps 

 close by the side of woody fresh-water rivers, and 

 dark and lonely creeks. He leaves his retreat 

 before sunrise to feed on the insects over the 

 water ; he returns to it as soon as the sun's rays 

 cause a glare of light, is sedentary all day long, 

 and comes out again for a short time after sunset. 

 He builds his nest on a twig over the water in 

 the unfrequented creeks ; it looks like tanned 

 cow leather. 



As you advance towards the mountains of 

 Demerara, other species of humming-birds present 

 themselves before you. It seems to be an erro- 

 neous opinion, that the humming-bird lives entirely 

 on honey-dew. Almost every flower of the tropical 

 climates contains insects of one kind or other ; 

 now, the humming-bird is most busy about the 

 flowers an hour or two after sunrise, and after a 

 shower of rain, and it is just at this time that the 



