HUMMING-BIRDS. 



33 



its favourite flower, and wherever this occurs the humming-bird may be observed, 

 and as it is in flower from August to November, and as another humming-bird 

 (Lesbia gracilis) does not aflect this tree, the present bird thrives. It is one of 

 the most active of the family, seldom taking rest, the females being especially 

 lively. The adult males are more rarely seen than the hens and younger males, 

 but they are beautiful objects when seen in front of the calyx of a flower, the tail 

 with its two rackets being depressed, while the bird is hovering with the spatules 

 in close proximity to each other. When in flight, the humming noise produced by 

 the wings is great by reason of the short wings of the bird, and is more pronounced 

 in the male than in the female. 

 One of the most curious habits 

 connected with this humming- 

 bird is that of assembling. Eight 

 or ten males, mostly young ones, 

 were observed by Stolzmann near 

 Tamiapampa to collect in a bare 

 and desolate plateau on which 

 were no flowers at all, the as- 

 sembly being apparently merely 

 for manoeuvres. Two young 

 males w^ould first stop in the air 

 opposite to one another, with 

 their bodies held vertically, open- 

 ing their tails and springing first 

 to one side and then to the other, 

 uttering a little cry each time 

 the tail was opened, which the 

 observer likened to the noise of 

 flipping a finger-nail or snapping 

 a watch-case. As a rule, this 



aerial dance is shared by two young males only, but sometimes several take part 

 in it, and the note of the female bird is almost always to be heard in the vicinity. 

 Sometimes one of the young males hung below a thin branch while another one 

 manoeuvred above him, spreading his tail and " snapping." Suddenly in a flash 

 the positions are reversed, and the suspended bird takes the place of the dancer. 

 The old males perform curious antics with the tail, and sometimes actually bring 

 the two rackets close to the crown. Stolzmann has also observed the bird drinking- 

 water at a little cascade, of which there are plenty in the country inhabited by 

 the Loddigesia ; this being doubtless the only way in which the bird can appease its 

 thirst. The cry of the young male and of the female is a tsi-tsi-tsi, rapidly 

 repeated while the bird is visiting flowers or executing the manoeuvres described 

 above ; when seated they are silent, and the voice of the male has not yet been heard. 

 Double-Crested This beautiful little species (Heliactin cornuta) is distinguished by 



Humming-Bird. ^}^q glittering tufts over the eyes and wedge-shaped tail, the feathers 

 of which are narrowed at the end into a blunt point. The colour is a shining 

 grass-green, metallic greenish blue on the crown, and inclining to golden on the 



VOL. IV. — 3 



KACKET-TAILED HUMMI^■G-BIKD. 



