HUMMING-BIEDS. 



The collection of Humming-birds exhibited in the British 

 Museum was formed bj the late Mr. John Gould, F.R.S., who 

 commenced the study of this family of birds some forty years 

 ago. The difficulties of obtaining new or rare species from 

 countries previously untrodden by the collector were much 

 greater then than they are in the present day ; but the energy 

 and enthusiasm of John Gould overcame all obstacles ; he 

 lost no opportunity of acquiring, at any cost, species not repre- 

 sented in his collection ; he incited by high rewards travellers to 

 go specially in search of rare or unknown species ; and after the 

 lapse of twenty years he had succeeded in bringing together a 

 series far exceeding in variety of forms his own expectation or that 

 of ornithologists generally. He commenced the publication of a 

 great work, ' The Monograph of the Trochilidse,' which finally 

 extended to five volumes in folio, and comprised descriptions 

 and figures of about 400 different species. 



From an early period he began to mount with his own hand 

 the most remarkable types, placing as much as possible allied 

 forms in the same case, and demonstrating their habits and chief 

 characteristics, and especially the ever-varying hues of their 

 colours, by the different attitudes in which he arranged the 

 specimens. This collection of mounted Humming-birds con- 

 tained about 300 species and 2000 specimens when he exhibited 

 it in the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park during the Great 

 Exhibition of 1851. It proved one of the great attractions in 

 London during that memorable year ; and after it had been 



