Some Colony Birds. 271 
now that small insects form the staple food of humming-birds, so that in 
captivity it is necessary to supply an equivalent food ; and this may be done 
in the form of white-of-egg. We occasionally see a humming-bird flying 
about the wall of a house, and searching in the crevices for its insect prey. 
JACOBIN HumMING-BixD. 
Another humming-bird I acquired, a Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) exhibited 
similar characteristicsto the one Ihave described ; except that he was even 
more remarkably tame from the moment I picked him up. He temporarily 
disabled himself by dashing through one open window and against the pane of 
another. This is a much more gorgeous bird than the foregoing, and much 
larger. Its head and breast are ultra-marine blue ; its body and wing coverts, 
metallic-green ; the vent feathers white, the tail which in flight it expands 
like a fan, pure white, the feathers being edged at their tips with black ; its 
flight-feathers are also dull black. Where neckand back join there isa half 
moon of pure white ; but this is only fully visible when the neck is stretched. I 
placed his little box at one corner of my large cage and there he would remain 
content on his tiny perch until I appeared periodically to feed him. This I 
did by putting the tip of his long bill into the glass containing the syrup. It 
was some weeks before he learnt to help himself. I also gave him exercise 
by holding him slightly by the point of the beak when he would “hum” in 
a charming manner. He came to an untimely end as many charming captives 
do. After meals he would clean his long tongue by drawing it in and out of his 
bill like a sword from its sheath ; the tongue is forked and hollow, and he, 
unfortunately, picked up some fine sand on the tip of it. I washed it as well 
as I could, but several grains of sand got inside the tongue and whenever he 
drank the syrup through it, these grains were sucked up into his throat and 
eventually choked him. It is clear that to keep these delightful birds, one 
must design a special cage and bestow a continual personal supervision upon 
them. They are just the kind of birds for a lady’s boudoir. Twenty-six 
species are indigenous to the colony. 
THE Buiue SackI. 
Of the common birds of the colony none is more sriking than the Blue Sacki, 
or Blue Tanager (Tanagra episcopus), and it is often seen in a cage ; unfortu- 
nately the cage is generally too small and in consequence it is not seen to 
advantage. It was but natural that a beautiful specimen should soon come into 
my hands. The bird is almost the size of a thrush, with a shorter but stouter 
tail. The body of the bird is light cobalt blue and the feathers are of such a 
texture that the bird seems to be made of soft Berlin wool. The primary 
feathers and the tail are darker blue and hard and shining ; the wing shoulders 
are white, edged with purple. The bold, strong flight of this bird is striking ; 
one sees a flash of blue and hears a cheerily drawn-out note of greeting : “ Well! 
well! Well! here we are!” Its song is not unlike that of our sky-lark, 
though not so varied, nor so poetic. The Blue Sacki is a lively bird flying 
continually from perch to perch and making itself completely at home in a 
short time. It is distinctly a town bird loving to be in the proximity of human 
