SECOND JOURNEY. 97 



Cayenne and Demerara produce the same humming- 

 birds. Perhaps you would wish to know 



Haunts of . 



the humming- something of their haunts. Chiefly in the 



birds. 



months of July and August, the tree called 

 Bois Immortel, very common in Demerara, bears abun- 

 dance of red blossom, which stays on the tree for some 

 weeks ; then it is that most of the different species of 

 humming-birds are very plentiful. The wild red sage is 

 also their favourite shrub, and they buzz like bees round 

 the blossom of the wallaba-tree. Indeed, there is scarce a 

 flower in the interior, or on the sea-coast, but what receives 

 frequent visits from one or other of the species. 



On entering the forests, on the rising land in the in- 

 terior, the blue and green, the smallest brown, no bigger 

 than the humble bee, with two long feathers in the tail, 

 and the little forked-tail purple- throated humming-birds, 

 glitter before you in ever-changing attitudes. One species 

 alone never shows his beauty in the sun ; and were it 

 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 

 Indians. 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 



H 



