230 THE LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIKD. 



known, as the Bluefields ridge. . . . Not a tree, from the thickness of one's wrist up to the 

 oiant magnitudes of the hoary figs and cotton trees, but is clothed with fantastic parasites ; 

 begonias witli waxen flowers, and ferns with hirsute stems, climb up the trunks ; enor- 

 mous bromelias spring from the greater forks and fringe the horizontal limbs ; curious 

 orchidese, with matted roots and grotesque blossoms, droop from, every bough, and long 

 lianes, like the cordage of a ship, depend from the loftiest branches or stretch from tree to 

 tree. Eleo'ant tree-ferns and towering palms are numerous ; here and there the wild 

 plantain, or heliconia, waves its long ivy-like leaves from amidst the humbler bushes, 

 and in the most obscure corners, over some decaying body, rises the nobler spike of a 

 magnificent limodarum. The smaller wood consists largely of the plant called glass-eye 

 berry, the blossoms of which, though presenting little beauty in form or hue, are pre- 

 eminently attractive to the Long-tailed Humming-bird. 



And here at any time we may, with tolerable certainty, calculate on finding these 

 very lovely birds. But it is in March, April, and May that they abound. I suppose I have 

 sometimes seen not fewer than a hundred come successively to rifle the blossoms within 

 the space of half as many yards, in the course of a forenoon. They are, however, in no 

 respect gregarious ; though three or four may at one moment be hovering round the 

 blossoms of the same bed, there is no association; each is governed by his individual 

 preference, and each attends to his own affairs. 



It is worthy of remark, that males uniformly form the greater portion of the indivi- 

 duals observed at this elevation. I do not know why it should be so, but we see very few 

 females there, whereas, in the lowlands, this sex outnumbers the other. In March, a large 

 number are found to be clad in the livery of the adult male, but without long tail-feathers ; 

 others have the characteristic feathers lengthened, but in various degrees. These are, 

 I have no doubt, males of the preceding season. 



It is also quite common to find one of the long tail-feathers much shorter than the 

 other, which I account for by concluding that the shorter is replacing one that had been 

 accidentally lost. In their aerial encounters with each other a tail-feather is sometimes 

 displaced. One day, several of these 'young bloods' being together, a regular tumult 

 ensued, somewliat similar to a sparrow-fight ; such twittering, and fluttering, and dartings 

 Mther and thither. I could not exactly make out the matter, but suspected that it was 

 mainly an attack — surely an ungaUant one — made by them upon two females of the same 

 species that were sucking at the same bud. These were certainly in the skirmish, but the 

 evolutions were too rapid to be certain how the battle went. 



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 quiet chirp, both while resting on 

 a twig or while circling from flower to flower. They do not invariably probe flowers on 

 the wing ; one very frequently observes them thus engaged when alighted and sitting with 

 closed wings ; and often they partially sustain themselves by clinging by the feet to a leaf 

 while sucking, the wings being expanded and vibrating." 



Several of these beautiful bkds were captured and tamed by Mr. Gosse, who, however, 

 found the task to be one of no ordinary difficulty. It was easy enough to catch them in a 

 gauze net, for they were so inquisitive that they would hover over the net and peep into 

 its recesses ; but when they were caught they would generally die within a few hours. 

 Several of the Long-tailed Humming-birds were at last taken from the nest, and were soon 

 tamed. They were fed chiefly upon syrup, but were also supplied with little insects, in 

 imitation of their ordinary diet in a wild state. They were especially pleased with a very 

 small species of ant, which used to get into the vessel of syrup and fairly cover its surface 

 with their bodies. 



There is a long and very interesting description of these birds, which resembles, in 

 many respects, the amusing account given by Mr. Webber of his own winged pets. One 

 peculiarity deserves notice. Each bird, as soon as it was introduced into the room in 

 which it lived, made choice of separate perches for roosting, alighting after flight, and for 

 resting-places, and, when it had once settled itself, it would not permit any of its compa- 

 nions to usurp its dominions. Even if their owner endeavoured to make them change 



