SAWBILL HUMMING BIED. 235 



cacha, one of the llamas, and is hung against the side of a rock 

 or a wall, sometimes being attached to the wall itself, but 

 generally suspended from some twig or hanging root. The bird 

 always selects some spot where the nest can be sheltered by an 

 overhanging ledge of rock, probably because the very loose 

 structure of the nest requires that some such precaution should 

 be taken. The portion of the nest that rests against the wall is 

 always looser than, the reniainder of the structure. There are 

 two eggs, of a rather large size for humming birds to lay, being 

 about half an inch in length. 



The Chimboeazian Hill Star {Oreotrochilus Chimborazo) also 

 hangs its nest against perpendicular rocks. 



This singular bird, like its congener, the White-throated Hill 

 Star, prefers elevated situations, and is found at still higher 

 altitudes. Specimens are never found less than twelve thousand 

 feet above the level of the sea, and are frequently seen at the 

 astonishing elevation of sixteen thousand feet, where it thrives 

 in spite of the extreme cold which continually reigns and checks 

 the magnificent flowering plants which are so plentiful towards 

 the foot of the mountain. As may be seen from the name of the 

 bird, it lives upon Chimborazo, and feeds upon the juices of 

 the yellow Chuquiraqua insignis, an alpine plant with large 

 blossoms. 



It is not a brilliantly coloured bird, the general colours being 

 pale dusky green, relieved by a splendid emerald patch upon the 

 chest. The nest of the Chimborazian Hill Star is made chiefly 

 of lichens, and is hung against the sides of some perpendicular 

 rock, where it is sheltered by a shelf overhead. There is another 

 Hill Star which much resembles this species, but does not 

 possess the green patch on the throat. This species also inhabits 

 a volcanic mountain, being confined within a narrow zone of 

 some two himdred yards in width. It is a remarkable fact, that 

 though this species, which takes its name of Pichinchian Hill 

 Stae from the moimtain on which it resides, is placed within 

 thirty miles of the Chimborazian Hill Star, neither species is 

 ever found upon the mountain which is appropriated to its 

 congener. Pichinchia is in the republic of Ecuador. 



There is a very remarkable nest made by one of these birds 

 called the Sawuill Hu.mmixo Bird {Gri/pus ncevins), because the 



