J. Delacour—Notes of a Bircl-lover in Tropical America 167


the birds in the morning so that they had the rest of the day in which to

recuperate, for Humming-birds caught in the evening died more

frequently. Usually they will feed by'themselves between four and

six hours after their capture, when they begin to realize that their

food vessel is as good as any flower filled with nectar and tiny insects,

and they then pay it frequent visits. One must watch them carefully

until one sees that they can feed by themselves, and then one must not

touch them again. They feed very often and take very little at a time.

Certain individuals and certain species are more difficult to accustom

to cage life ; for example, the superb Topaz Humming-bird will not feed

by itself for thirty-six or forty-eight hours, and this species is very wild

where others quickly tame.


The great difficulty is with regard to the food, which in a tropical

climate so quickly goes sour, and one has to mix it fresh several times

in the day, particularly in the morning before sunrise, so that the

Humming-birds could run no risk of drinking sour food. One should

not, however, remove the food vessel over night, after the birds have

gone to sleep, for they tumble down and are unable to find their perches

again, which would be fatal. Humming-birds are so pugnacious that

it is impossible to keep them together in a cage. I tried to put two

females together, and also a pair, but hardly had they recovered from

the shock of their capture, than they fell upon each other immediately.


Thanks to constant attention we did not lose more than ten per cent

of our Humming-birds, and on leaving St. Laurent we took with us

thirty birds representing the following species: Topaza pella,

Campilopterus largipennis, Florisuga mellivora, and Thalurania furcata,

the two latter being the most numerous. These are exquisite little birds,

the male having the breast and back violet-blue, the throat brilliant

emerald green, with metallic lights. The female is pearl grey and golden

green. This species was very abundant in the neighbourhood of

St. Laurent in January and February, but the birds disappeared at

the end of March. My collection was further increased by Tinamous

(Crypturus sou'i), Grey-fronted Doves (Leptoptila rufaxilla), Cayenne

Rails (Creciscus cayennis), various Macaws, Jacarini Finches, and

other little seed-eaters, Saltators, Quit-quits, and many Tanagers, not

to mention some mammals.



