26 



PICARIAN BIRDS. 



just behind Bluetields, and known as the Bluefields Ridge. Behind the peaks 

 which are visible from the sea, at an elevation of about half a mile, there runs 

 through the dense woods a narrow path, just passable for a horse, overrun with 

 beautiful ferns of many graceful forms, and always damp and cool. The whirring 

 made by the vibrating wings of the male polytmus is a shriller sound than that 

 produced by the female, and indicates its proximity before the eye has detected it. 

 The male almost constantly utters a monotonous, quick chirk, both while resting 



on a twig, and while sucking from flower 

 to flower. They do not invariably probe 

 flowers upon the wing ; one may frequently 

 observe them thus engaged, when alighted 

 and sitting with closed wings, and often 

 they partially sustain themselves by clinging 

 with the feet to a leaf while sucking, the 

 wings being expanded and vibrating. The 

 humming-birds in Jamaica do not confine 

 themselves to any particular season for nidi- 

 £. fication. In almost every month of the year 

 I have either found, or have had brought to 

 ^ me, the nests of polytmus in occupation. 

 ~' Still, as far as my experience goes, they are 

 most numerous in June ; while Mr. Hill con- 

 siders January as the most normal period. 

 It is not improbable that two broods are 

 reared in a season. In the latter part of 

 February, a friend showed me a nest of this 

 species in a singular situation, but which I 

 afterwards found to be quite in accordance 

 with its usual habits. It was at Bognie, 

 situated on the Bluefields Mountain, but at 

 some distance from the scene above described. 

 On the 12th of November, we took, in Blue- 

 fields morass, the nest of a polytmus, con- 

 taining two eggs, one of which had the 

 chick considerably advanced, the other was 

 freshly laid. The nest was placed on a hanging twig of a black mangrove tree, the 

 twig passing perpendicularly through the side, and out at the bottom. It is mainly 

 composed of silk-cotton very closely pressed, mixed with the still more glossy 

 cotton asclepias, particularly round the edge ; the seed remaining attached to some 

 of the filaments." 



WMte-crowned Two species of the curious genus Microchera are known to 



Humming-Bird. science ; the one confined to the mountains of Western Panama, and 

 the other (M. parvirostris) taking its place in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Both 

 are remarkable for their snow-white crowns and tiny dimensions, being only about 

 2^ inches in length. According to its describer, Mr. Merrill, the latter is not so 

 persistent in its flight as most of the humming-birds, and rests more frequently, 



JAMAICA HDMHIMO-BIBD. 



