My Mumming Birds and how I obtained them. 151


are still, by far the most lively. Eulampis holosericeus appears to

be, in captivity at least, rather a sluggish creature ; too fond, when

not actually engaged in fighting, of sitting for hours on the same

favourite twig. But one forgot the sea-voyage, with all its miseries,

when watching the Garnets and their marvellous flight, their evolu¬

tions in space, bacJcivards, forwards, sideways, all occupied by that

loud whirring noise which reminds me always of a miniature aero¬

plane. At first their activity seemed confined to the early morning



hours or late afternoons, when they were incessantly on the wing,

circling round and round or hovering perfectly still in mid-air,

suspended, as it were, by some invisible thread; but the periods of

intensified energy gradually lengthened out, and now, except for a

short spell towards noon, they all but live in the air. No doubt in

their own land the tremendous mid-day heat enforces a protracted

rest, and the natural instinct to seek repose until the hours of

twilight needed those many months to adapt themselves to modified

conditions.


To encourage hovering, I soon discarded all tin feeders for

open glass ones. All very healthy Humming Birds prefer to take

their food in this manner, buzzing over the little pot that contains



