THE SEA.RCHERS. ^t 



a moment, clung to the bottle's rim, and bringing his beak perpendicular, thrast it into the tube. It 

 was at once evident that the repast was agreeable, for he continued pumping for several moments ; and 

 on his flying off I found the quill emptied. As he had torn off the flower in his eagerness for more, 

 and even followed the fragments as they lay on the table to search them, I re-filled the quill, and put a 

 blossom of the marvel of Peru into it, so that the flower expanded over the top ; the little toper found 

 it again, and after drinking freely, withdrew his beak, but the blossom was adhering to it as a sheath. 

 This incumbrance it got rid of, and then returned immediately, and, inserting his beak into the bare 

 quill, finished the contents. It was amusing to see the odd position of his body as he clung to the 

 bottle, with his beak inserted perpendicularly into the cork. Several times in the evening he had 

 recourse to his new fountain, and at length betook himself to a line stretched across the room for 

 repose, He slept, as they all do, with the head not behind the wing, but slightly drawn back on the 

 shoulders. In the morning I found him active before sunrise, having already emptied his quill of 

 syrup. After some hours, he flew through a door I incautiously left open, and, to my great chagrin, 

 escaped. 



" Another male that I kept became so familiar, even before I had had him for a day, as to 

 fly to my face, and, perching on my lip or chin, thrust his beak into my mouth and suck up the 

 moisture. He grew so bold and so frequent in his visits as at length to become almost annoying, and 

 so pertinacious as to thrust his protruded tongue into all parts of my mouth, searching between the 

 gum and cheek or beneath the tongue. Occasionally I gratified him by taking into my mouth a little 

 of the syrup, and inviting him by a slight sound which he had learnt to understand. This bird and his 

 companions in captivity early selected his own place for perching, without invading his neighbours'. 

 So strong was this predilection, that on my driving one away from his spot he would flutter round the 

 room, but try to alight there again, and if still prevented would hover near the place as if much 

 distressed. The boldest of these birds was rather pugnacious, occasionally attacking one of his 

 gentler and more confiding companions, who always yielded and fled. After a day or two, however, 

 the persecuted one plucked up courage, and actually played the tyrant in his turn, interdicting his 

 playfellow from sipping at the sweetened cup. Twenty times in succession would the thirsty bird 

 drop down upon the wing to the glass, which stood at the edge of a table immediately beneath that 

 part of a line where both were wont to perch ; but no sooner was he poised in front, and about to 

 insert his tongue, than the other would dart down with inconceivable swiftness, and wheeling so as to 

 come up beneath him, would drive him from his repast. He miglit fly to any part of the room 

 unmolested, but an approach to the cup was the signal for an instant assault. The ill-natured fellow 

 himself took long and frequent draughts. 



" When these birds were accustomed to the room, their vivacity was extreme ; as manifested in 

 their upright position and quick turns and glances when sitting, which caused their brilliant breasts 

 to flash out from the darkness into sudden lustrous light, like rich gems ; and no less by their startings 

 hither and thither, and their most graceful wheelings and evolutions in the air, so rapid that the eye 

 was frequently baffled in attempting to follow their motions." 



The COMETS {Sparganura) possess a very remarkably graduated tail, the outer feathers of 

 which are five times as long as those in the centre. 



THE SAPPHO COMET. 

 Tlie Sappho Comet {Sparganura Sapp/w) is bright scarlet on the back, and of a metallic green 

 on the head and under side ; the throat, of a lighter sliade, is lustrous, and the lower part of the 

 belly light brown ; tlie quills are purplish brown, the tail-feathers brown, very glossy at the base, 



