Oct. 1, 1865.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



219 



or linmble rock-blossom, no flower liad ventured to 

 open its petals, except the brilliant pink Hibes, or 

 flowering currant, common in every English cottage 

 garden. 



Approaching a large cluster of these gay -looking 

 bushes, my ears were greeted with the sharp thnmi 

 — a sound I knew well— from the wings of a hum- 

 ming-bird, as it darted past me. The name by which 

 these birds are commonly known has arisen from 

 the noise produced by the wings (much like to the 

 sound of a driving-belt used in machinery, although 

 of course not nearly so loud) — whilst the little 

 creature, poised over a flower, darts its slender beak 

 deep amidst the corolla, not to sip nectar, in my 

 humble opinion, but to capture drowsy inseci revel- 

 lers, that assemble in these attractive drinhing-slwps, 

 and grow tipsy on the sweets gratuitously provided 

 for them. Soon a second whizzed by me, and others 

 followed in rapid succession, and, when near enough 

 to see distinctly, the bushes seemed literally to 

 gicam with the flashing colours of swarms (I know 

 no better word) of humming-birds surrounding the 

 entire clump of Ribes. 



From fiower to flower, where \7ild bees flew and sung', 



As countless, small, and musical as they. 



Showers of bright humming-birds camo down, and plied 



The same ambrosial task with slender bill. 



Extracting- honey hidden in those bells. 



Whose richest blossoms grew pale beneath their blaze. 



Of twinkling winglets hov'ring o'er their petals. 



Brilliant as rain-drops when the western sun 



Sees his own miniature beams in each. 



Seating myself on a log, I vv'atched this busy 

 assemblage for some time. They were all male 

 birds, and two species were plainly discernible. 

 Chasing each other in sheer sport, with a rapidity 

 of flight and intricacy of evolution impossible for 

 the eye to follow, through the bushes, over the 

 water, everywhere, they darted about like meteors ; 

 often meeting in mid-air, a furious battle would 

 ensue, their tiny crests and throat-plumes erect and 

 blazing, they were altogether pictures of the most 

 violent passions. Then one would perch himself 

 on a dead spray, and leisurely smooth his ruffled 

 feathers, to be suddenly rushed at and assaulted by 

 some quarrelsome comrade. Feeding, fighting, and 

 frolicking seemed to occupy their entire time. 



I dare say hard epithets will be heaped upon me,— 

 cruel man, hard-hearted savage, miserable destroyer, 

 and such like,— when I confess to sitting and shoot- 

 ing numbers of these burnished beauties. Some of 

 them are at this moment before me as I write ; but 

 what miserable things are these stuff'ed remains, as 

 compared to the living bird ! The brilliant crests 

 are rigid and immovable, the throat feathers, that 

 open and shut with a flash like coloured light, 

 lose in the stillness of death all those charms so 

 beautiful in life : the tail clumsily spread, or bent 

 similar to the abdomen of a wasp about to sthig. 



no more resembles the same organ in the live bird 

 than a fan of peacock's feathers is like to the ex- 

 panded tail of that bird when strutting proudly in 

 the sun. 



It is useless pleading excuses ; two long days 

 were occupied in shooting and skinning. The two 

 species obtained on this occasion were the Hed- 

 baeked Humming-bird [Selasphoncs nifus), often 

 described as Lhe Nootka Humming-bird, because it 

 was first discovered in Nootka Sound, on the west 

 side of Yancouver Island. The other, one of the 

 smallest known species, called Calliope. This ex- 

 quisite little bird is mainly conspicuous for its frill 

 of minute pinnated feathers encircling the throat, 

 of most delicate magenta tint, which can be raised 

 or depressed at will. Prior to my finding it in this 

 remote region,' it was described as being confined 

 entirely to Mexico. About a week had passed away ; 

 the bridge was completed, during which time the 

 female birds had arrived ; and save a stray one now 

 and then, not a single individual of that numerous 

 host that gathered round the Ribes was to be 

 seen. They cared nothing for the gun, and would 

 even dash at a dead companion as it lay on the 

 grass; so I did not drive them away; they scattered 

 of their own free will. 



My next camping-place was on the west slope of 

 the^ Rocky Mountams, near a lake, round which 

 grew some cotton-wood trees {Salix sconler'uuui), 

 together with alder {Alnus oregona), and the sweet 

 or black birch [Betula lenta). My attention was 

 called to the latter tree by observing numbers of 

 wasps, bees, and hornets swarming round its trunk. 

 The secret was soon disclosed ; a sweet gummy sap 

 was exuding ijlentifully from splits in the bark, on 

 which hosts of insects, large and small, were re- 

 galing themselves. As the sap ran down over the 

 bark, it became very sticky, and numbers of small 

 vfinged insects pitching on it, were trapped in a 

 natural " catch-'em-alive-o." Busily occupied in 

 picking off these captives were several very somljre- 

 looking humming-birds. They poised themselves 

 just as the others did over the flowers, and deftly 

 nipped, as with delicate forceps, the helpless insects. 

 I soon bagged one, and found I had a third 

 species, the Black-throated Humming-bird {TrocUlus 

 Alexanclri). Were any proof needed to establish 

 the fact of humming-birds being insect-feeders, this 

 should be sufficient. I saw the bird, not only on 

 this occasion but dozens of times afterwards, pick 

 the insects from off the tree, often killed it in the 

 act, and found the stomach, on being opened, 

 filled with various species of winged insects. 



The habits of these three species differ widely. 

 The Red-backed Humming-bird loves to flit over the 

 open prairies, stopping at every tempting flower, to 

 catch some idler lurking in its nectar-cells ; building 

 its nest generally in alow shrub, close to the rippling 

 stream, finds pleasant music in its ceaseless splash. 



