\ 



* 



r 



Mi¥ 



D I 



I 



., ! 



■I 



,•1 -: 



'i 



I* ■ 



4 



it 



[ 



I 



* -* 



' ^ 





Sect. XI.] 



ZOOLOGY. 



38 



devise a mode of introduciDg even humming-birds alive 

 into this country. A strict attention to temperature, and 

 the aid of an artificial florist, might effect this. If it be 



found that the birds will not feed out of little troughsj 

 quills, or tubes of coloured paper,* the flowers which are 

 observed to be their favourites might he imitated, and 

 liquefied honey, or even sugar and water, might be placed 

 m a little reservoir in the site of the nectarium. To take 

 these brilliant creatures alive is not difficulty, if the fol- 

 lowing method be adopted. Some plant (the aloe for 



\ 



instance), the flowers of which are particularly attractive 

 to the humming-birds, being selected, all the bunches of 

 blossom, save one or two, should be broken off in the 



evening after the birds 



have retired. These bunches 

 should be enclosed in light bamboo trap-cages, with large 

 open falling doors kept up by strings, to be held by a 

 person in concealment. A little before the usual time of 

 the appearance of the humming-birds, the bird-catcher 

 must be in his hiding-place with the door-strings in his 

 hand, and when he finds his prize busily employed about 

 the enclosed flower, he must drop the door and secure his 



Mr. Bullock tried this plan with great success ; 

 and, while on this subject, it may not be irrelevant (as 

 connected with their diet) to state, that he saw these 

 birds frequently take insects out of the spiders' webs, 

 where they lay entangled, and swallow them ; and that 



* Captain Lyon, in his ' Journal of a Residence, &c., in the Renablic 

 of Mexico,' p. 212, states that he kept a humming-bird for nearly a 

 month on sugar and water, slightly impregnated with saffroij. It greedily 

 sucked this mixture from a small quiil; and the Captain adds, that he is 

 sure that, with constant attention, these little creatures mieht be kept for 



prey 



a long time. 



S 



^ -M- _ - >ri^ B- 



