TROCHILUS POLYTMUS, Unn. 



Black-capped Humming--bird. 



Polytmus 1. Brown, Nat. Hist, of Jam., p. 475. 



Falcmellus^ cauda sept em imciarum^ Klein, Av., p. 108. No. I7. 



Long-tailed Black-cap Humming-bird, Edwards's Birds, vol. i. pi. 34. p. 34. 



Boiirdonneur de Ma^igoe a longue queue, Albin, torn. iii. p. 20. pi. 49. fig. a, 



Oiseaii-mouche a longue queue noir, Sonn. Edit, de BufF. Hist. Nat., torn. xvii. p. 215. 



Mellisuga Jamaicensis atricapilla, cauda bifurcd, Briss. Orn., torn. iii. p. 729. 



Mellivora avis maxima, Sloane, Jam., vol. ii. p. 309- t. 264. fig, 4. 



Trochilus Polytm-us, Linn. Syst. Nat. Edit. 10, torn. i. p. 120. — lb. Gmel. Edit, tom. i. p. 186. 

 — lb. Turt. Edit, vol. i. p. 303.— Lath, Ind. Orn., tom. i. p. 302.— Vieill. Ois. Chant 

 des Amer.,tom. ii. p. 71. — ^Jard. Nat Lib. Humming Birds, vol. ii. p. 108. pi. 21. — Gray 

 and Mitch. Gen. of Birds. — Gosse, Birds of Jamaica, p. 97- — lb. 111. Birds of Jam., pi. xix. 

 — Vieill. Ency. Meth. Orn., part ii. p. 554. 



Black-capped Humming-bird, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. ii. p. 748.- — Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. 

 p. 281. — Lath. Gen. Hist, vol. iv. p. 296. 



Colibri a tete noire, Vieill. Ois. Dor., tom. i. p. 121. pi. 67. 



Ornismya cephalatra, Less. Ois. Mouch., p. 78. pi. 17- 



This species, the type, according to modern systematists, of the Linnean genus Trochilus, is perhaps one of 

 the oldest and hest-known members of the entire family, a description of it being included in nearly every 

 general work on Natural History, as will be seen on reference to the synonyms given above ; but although 

 the bird itself has been so long known, nothing whatever had been recorded of its habits and economy 

 until the appearance of the very interesting and valuable account publislied by P. H. Gosse, Esq. in his 

 *' Birds of Jamaica," and from which I shall take the liberty of transcribing the more important particulars. 

 " This is the gem of Jamaican ornithology," says Mr. Gosse ; " its slender foi-m, velvet crest, emerald 

 bosom, and lengthened tail-plumes, render it one of the most elegant members of its truly brilliant family." 

 It " is a permanent resident in Jamaica, and is not uncommonly seen at all seasons and in all situations. 

 It loves to frequent the margins of road-sides, where it sucks the blossoms of the trees, occasionally 

 descending, however, to the low shrubs, and is abundant on the summit of the range of mountains 

 known as the Bluefields ridge. Behind these peaks which are visible from the sea, at an elevation of about 

 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 these are hidden from view far up in the thick woods. The refreshing coolness of this road, its un- 

 broken solitude, combined with 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 fantastic parasites; Begonias \v\\\\ waxen flowers, and ferns with hirsute stems climb 

 up the trunks; enormous Bromelias spring from the greater forks, and fringe the horizontal limbs ; various 

 OrcUdecB with matted roots and grotesque blossoms droop from every bough, and long lianes, 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 or HeUconiav^-ds^^ 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 Limodorum. Nothing is flaunting or showy ; all is solemn and subdued ; but all is exquisitely 

 beautiful. The smaller wood consists largely of the plant called Glass-eye berry, a Scrophularious shrub, 

 the blossoms of which, though presenting little beauty in form or hue, are pre-eminently attractive to the 

 Long-tailed Humming-bird. These bushes are at no part of the year out of blossom, the scarlet berries ap- 

 pearing at all seasons on the same stalk as the flowers, and here at anytime 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 I have sometimes seen not fewer than a hundred come successively to rifle the blossoms within the 

 space of half as many yards in the course of a forenoon. They are, however, in no respect gregarious ; 

 though three or four may be at one moment hovering round the blossoms of the same bush, there is no 



