THE HUMMING BIRDS. 



377 



more than allude to a family, the full description of which by Mr. Gould has occupied five large folio 

 volumes. An. immense variety of form and colour is presented to us. All the birds are of small size, 

 some of them being no larger than Hawk-moths, to which in their manner of flight they bear con- 

 siderable resemblance. 



In some countries Humming-birds are tolerably common, but some species are of extreme rarity ^ 

 such, for instance, as the Loddigesia mirabilis, which was discovered forty years ago, and still remains 





SWOED-BILL HUMMING BIKI>. 



represented by a single specimen in the collection of the late Mr. George Loddiges, and of which a 

 reward of fifty pounds, offered by Mr. Gould, has not succeeded in obtaining a second example. As a 

 rule, Humming-birds are a Neotropical family, that is to say, the vast majority of the species occur in 

 South America, and do not wander above the line of Northern Mexico ; but a few species are found in 

 the Southern United States, while one occurs in summer even in North America, ranging as far as, 

 and even breeding in, Canada. Professor Newton writes : " Wilson, Atuhibon, Mr. Gosse, and 

 several others gifted with ' the pen of a ready writer,' have so fully described, as far as words will 

 admit, the habits of different members of the family TrochiliJce, that it is unnecessary to say much on 

 this score. Their appearance is so entirely unlike that of any other birds that it is hopeless to attempt 



