THE SEARCHERS. 57 



are visible from the sea, at an elevation of half a mile, there runs through the dense woods a narrow 

 path, just passable for a horse, overrun with beautiful ferns of many graceful forms, and always damp 

 and cool. No habitation occurs within several miles, and no cultivation, save the isolated provision 

 grounds of the negroes, which teem with enormous arums, and are hidden from view in the thick 

 woods. The refreshing coolness of the roads, the unbroken solitude, combined vnth the peculiarity 

 and luxuriance of the vegetation, made it one of my favourite resorts. Not a tree, from the thickness 

 of one's wrist to the gigantic magnitude of the hoary fig and cotton tree, but is clothed with gigantic 

 parasites. Begonias with waxen leaves and ferns with hirsute stems climb up the trunks of enormous 

 bromelias; various orchids, with matted roots and grotesque blossoms, spring from every bough; and 

 long lianas, like the cordage of a ship, depend from the loftiest branches or stretch from tree to tree. 

 Elegant tree-ferns and towering palms are numerous. Here and there the wild plantain waves its 

 long flag-like leaves from amidst the humbler bushes ; and in the most obscure corners, over some 

 decaying log, nods the noble spike of a magnificent limed arum. Nothing is flaunting or showy ; all 

 is solemn and subdued, but all is exquisitely beautiful. The underwood consists largely of the plant 

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

 eminently attractive to the Long-tailed Humming Bird. These bushes are at no part of the year 

 out of blossom, their scarlet berries appearing at all seasons on the same stalk as the flowers ; and 

 here, at any time, one may with tolerable certainty calculate on finding these very lovely birds ; but 

 it is in March, April, and May that they abound. I suppose that I have sometimes seen not fewer 

 than a hundred come successively to rifle the blossoms within the space of as many )fards in one 

 forenoon. They are, however, in no respects gregarious ; though three or four may be seen at one 

 moment hovering round the blossoms of the same shrub, there is no association — each is governed 

 by its individual preference, and each attends to its own affairs. It is worthy of remark that males 

 compose by far the greater portion of the individuals observed at this elevation, while very few females 

 are seen there ; whereas in the lowlands this sex outnumbers the other. In March a considerable 

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

 others possess them in various stages of development. These are, I have no doubt, males of the 

 preceding season. It is also common to find one of those lengthened feathers much shorter than the 

 other ; and in their aerial encounters with each other a tail-feather is sometimes displaced. The loud 

 sound made by the strong vibration of the wings of the male is more shrill than that produced by those 

 of the female, and indicates the proximity of the bird before the eye has detected it. The male utters 

 an almost incessant chirp, both whilst resting on a twig or feeding from the flowers. The)' do not 

 invariably probe the blossoms on the wing, but frequently when alighted and sitting with closed 

 pinions ; and they often partially sustain themselves whilst feeding by clinging Avith the feet to a 

 leaf, with the wings expanded and vibrating. When perched, they usually sit in a nearly upright 

 posture, with the head thrown backwards, the beak pointing at a small angle above the horizon, the 

 feet almost hidden by the body being brought into contact with the perch, the tail thrust forward under 

 the belly, and the long feathers crossing each other near their middle." 



The nests, which are most numerous in Jtme, are placed in a great variety of situations ; that 

 described by Mr. Gosse was " principally composed of silk-cotton, very closely pressed, mixed with 

 the still more glossy cotton of an asclepias, particularly round the edge, the seeds remaining attached 

 to some of the filaments. On the outside the whole structure is quite covered with spiders' webs, 

 crossed and recrossed in every direction, and made to adhere by some viscous substance, evidently 

 applied after the web was placed, probably saliva. Little bits of pale green lichen and fragments of 

 thin laminated bark are stuck here and there on the outside, by means of the webs having been passed 

 over them. The whole forms a very compact cup, one inch and three-quarters deep without, and 

 VOL. III. — 87 



