Practical Bird-Keeping.



67



specialize on this species if he wants to get Humming-birds oyer

alive.


It must be remembered in keeping Hummers that they have

very little use of their feet except as grasping organs ; I never saw

any of the Zoo specimens try to walk or hop if they found them¬

selves on the ground, and even in moving along their perch they

whizz the wings. Newly-imported specimens, therefore, should have

their perches so arranged that they can sidle along them to get at

the food and water—for they drink freely though living on syrup.

Once they are well-established and flying strongly the fewer perches

the better. Of course these should be often cleaned, as the birds

have a curious trick of grasping their long thin bills with their feet

and wiping them down, any stickiness thereby accruing being promptly

transferred to the perch, of course. For bathing the Prevosts’ pre¬

ferred a large leaf which had been sprayed on—no doubt a natural

habit—but would also use a pan with a piece of moss in it. The cock

took no notice of the hen except to pull her off the wet leaf by the

scruff of the neck when he wanted a bath, and they kept as far apart

as possible, so that solitary confinement would seem to be no hardship

for a Humming-bird. A very high temperature is necessary, at any

rate for newly-imported birds, as they become torpid like reptiles or

very young nestlings if the temperature falls too low. This, how¬

ever, seems to do them no harm ; a female Kuby-and-Topaz Hummer

(Chrysolampis moschitus ) in this consignment, arriving torpid, was

placed on the hot water pipes for resuscitation, revived suddenly,

flew all over the house for a long time without striking the glass,

fell down on a Marmosets’ cage, was rescued from the clutches of

a Marmoset which had grabbed its head, and about a quarter of

an hour later was hovering in its glass-sided case, apparently trying

to peep into the lens of a camera which was being operated in front !

Surely so robust a minikin ought to have lived longer than it did ;

the tameness it showed was characteristic of the group, which excel

in this lovable and desirable peculiarity.


Provided they can be kept warm and clean (a most important

point), the chief difficulty with these birds is evidently the provision

of suitable food ; but as this has been got over with the Sunbirds

{Nectarinzidce ), which belong to an entirely different group, being



