7314 Birds. 



m 



the Vicinit'^ of Quito ;' by Philip Lulley Sclater, M.A. — From the ' Proceedings of 

 the Zoolo'jical Society of London^ 1860, p. 80. 



Note on the Nest of a Humming-bird (Thaumastura henicura) in Guatemala. — 

 The tbiid nest bad young. It was placed iu the upper shoots of a dahlia which {;rew 

 at the farther end of the court-yard of the house. The hen bird seemed to have the 

 entire duly of rearing the young, as I never once saw the male near the place; in fact, 

 I never saw a male Thaumastura henicura inside the court-yard at all. When the 

 hen was silting she would sometimes allow me to go quite close to her, and even hold 

 the branch still when it was swayed to and fro by the wind, without evincing the 

 slightest alarm. But it was only when a hot sun was shining that she would allow me 

 to do this ; when it was dull or raining, four or five yards was the nearest I could 

 approach. Frequently, when I had disturbed her, I would sit down close at hand and 

 wait for her return ; and I always noticed that, after flying past once or twice over- 

 head, she would bring a small piece of lichen, which, after she had settled herself 

 comfortably in her nest, she would attach to the outside. All this was done with such 

 a confident and fearless air that she seemed to intimate, " I left my nest purely to 

 search for this piece of lichen, and not because I was afraid of you." When sitting 

 upon ber nest the whole cavity was quite filled by her puflfed-out feathers, the wings, 

 with the exception of their tips, being entirely concealed by the feathers of the back. 

 When the young were first hatched they looked little, black, shapeless things, with 

 long necks and hardly any beak. They snon, however, grew, and entirely filled the 

 nest. I never saw the old bird sitting after the young bad emerged from the eggs ; 

 she seemed to leave them alike in sun and rain. When feeding them she would stand 

 on the edge of the nest with her body very upright. The first of these young ones flew 

 on October 15th. It was standing on the side of the nesl as I happened to approach, 

 when it immediately flew ofl", but fell among the flowers below. I placed it again in 

 the nest, but a moment after it was off again, nothing daunted by its first failure, — 

 this second time with better success, for it flew over a wall close by, and settled on a 

 tree on the other side. In the evening of the same day I saw the old one feeding it, 

 and went up to the tree ; but it started ofl" with increased vigour to an orange tree, 

 and tried at first to rest on one of the fruit, but, failing, found a more appropriate 

 perch on the edge of a leaf. I never saw it afterwards. The other young one flew on 

 October 17th, two days later. The proportion of males to females of my Duenas 

 skins is as five to three, while of those from Coban as three to five. The seeds of the 

 willow and bulrush are favourite materials for the interior structure of the nest of T. 

 henicura, while lichen is freely used outside. — Osbert Salvin, in the ' Ibis,^ ii. 266. 



Note on a Humming-hird (Cyanomyia cyanocephala) of Guatemala. — This last 

 week another pair have been building somewhere near the house, and the male bird 

 frequently comes while I am preparing skins iu the coniJor, and takes pieces of cot- 

 ton almost from under my hand. Yesterday afternoon (August 14) Mr. Wyld caught 

 it making a descent upon some small object in his room. He shut the window and 

 called me. The intruder, who was wearied from fluttering against the window, 

 suffered itself to be caught. In a very few moments its agitation ceased, and it 

 seemed to be taking advantage of its comfortable place in my hand to rest from its 

 fatigues, making no attempt to escape. Before letting it go I procured a piece of 

 sugar, and dipping it in water put it to the tip of its bill. Almost immediately its 

 long tongue was employed in sucking up the liquid. On liberating it, it flew to a 

 tree close at hand, and seemed to take no further notice of its late captivity. If its 



