HUMMING-BIRDS. 103 



placed outwards, giving a jagged or prickly appearance 

 to the outside, while the interior is warmly lined with 

 the down. Dr Latham says, that the nest of the black 

 humming-bird is also made of cotton, entwined round 

 the thorns and twigs of the citron-tree, and is of so 

 firm a texture as not to be easily broken by the winds ; 

 and a nest of the topaz-crested humming-bird, now 

 before me, about seven-eighths of an inch in diameter, 

 is composed of the same materials, stuck over with 

 lichens on the outside, and firmly fixed in the hanging 

 cleft of some strong creeper by threads of a cottony 

 substance, and very slender roots or tendrils, the whole 

 lower part as if cemented by a thin coat of glue. It 

 is probable that the greater number build their nests 

 nearly in a similar manner, and in proportion to their 

 size, though there are also some variation in the dif- 

 ferent forms, which a little more attention may allow 

 us to introduce in our reasoning upon their affinities. 

 Thus, in some valuable remarks accompanying a col- 

 lection of birds from Tobago, we have, regarding the 

 T.hirsutus. (provincially named doctor humming-bird,) 

 { ' It builds its nest suspended like that of the yellow- 

 tail, (Cassicus cristatus,) with the entrance somewhat 

 downwards, and lays only one egg." The nest received 

 is of a lengthened form, composed of dried grass and 

 slender roots, moss, &c., and does not show the com- 

 pact manufacture of those previously described. It is 

 suspended to the leaf of some reed-like plant, to which 

 it is cemented chiefly by the threads of spiders or 

 caterpillars. I trust erelong to procure some interest- 



