.Mi 



BOLIVIA VIOLET-EAR. Pttutuphora iclaia. 



SPARKLING-TAIL, HUMMING-HHIIX 



a leaf or some slight twig by means of spiders' webs, so that instead of the great spider 

 catching and eating the Humming-bird, as Madame Merian supposed, the Humming-bird 

 is the real depredator, and robs the spider. 



In colouring and form the two sexes are quite dissimilar. 



The male is bronze-green above, with the exception of the bold crescent-shaped white 

 feathers on the lower part of the back. The throat is rich metallic blue, becoming velvety 

 black in certain lights, because each feather is black at the base and blue at the tip. The 

 wings are of a rich dark purple-brown. Eound the neck runs a broad snowy-white crescentic 

 band, and the whole under surface is bronze-green, except the under tail-coverts, across 

 which runs a band of white. The tail is very curious, exhibiting very many tints, and not 

 very easy to describe. The two central feathers are rich shining green ; the next green 

 marked with bronze ; the next dark brown, with two triangular white spots on the inner 

 web, one near the middle and the other at the tip : the two central feathers are dark brown 

 for the first half of their length, then comes a broad band of deep rusty red, then a broad 

 white band, then a brown band, and the tip is white. The whole length is about four 

 inches. 



The female is of a rich bronze-green on the upper surface of the body, and the two 

 crescentic marks on the lower part of the back are buff instead of white, as in her mate. 

 Her tail is short, and of a purple-black bronzed at the base ; all the feathers except the 

 cwo central ones are tipped with white and ringed with buff. The under surface is rusty 

 red, becoming darker on the under tail-coverts. The length is not quite three inches. 



WE now come to one of the most imposing of all the Humming-birds, namely the 

 SAPPHO COMET, or the BAE-TAILED HUMMING-BIED as it is often called. It is a native of 

 Bolivia, and is a migratory species, generally going to Eastern Peru in the winter. It is 

 i remarkably familiar bird, haunting the gardens and orchards while the trees are blos- 

 soming, especially while the apple-trees are in flower. The males are extremely fierce and 

 pugnacious, chasing each other through the air with surprising perseverance and acrimony. 

 Of these birds Mr. Bonelli gives a very spirited description : 



