238 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



fruit of some palm, and upon the outside are fastened many 

 patches of flat lichen, so that the whole nest, which is very long 

 in proportion to its width, may easily escape detection. 



The second species is to be found in every collection of hum- 

 ming birds, and even the glass cases of these creatures which are 

 sold in the shops, are seldom without a specimen of the Euby 

 AND Topaz Htjhming Bird {Chrysolampis moschiius). It derives 

 its name from the rich ruby red which decorates the crown of 

 the head, and the fieiy topaz which blazes on the gorget. This 

 species has a very wide range of residence, being found through- 

 out Bahia, all the Guianas, Trinidad, and the Garaccas, and is 

 killed by thousands for the sake of its plumage. I was about to 

 say for the sake of its skin, but as that expression would imply 

 that the humming birds seen in cases are all skinned and stuffed 

 it cannot be rightly used. 



A stuffed humming bird is very seldom seen, though 

 thousands are annually sold under that name. In fact, the birds 

 are so tiny, and the amount of flesh is so small, that very few 

 persons care to take the trouble and run the risk of skinning 

 such minute creatures, and content themselves with removing 

 the inside, supplying its place with cotton, inserting wires, as 

 is customary in birds stuffed according to the present fashion, 

 fixing the birds in appropriate attitudes, and then drying them, 

 trusting to the feathers to cover deficiencies. Of course the soft 

 and roimded contours are lost by so rough a process, but as the 

 general public that buys stuffed birds is too uncritical to per- 

 ceive such defects, and too indifferent to trouble themselves 

 about them, even when pointed out, the professional taxidermists 

 have no inducement to waste their time upon tedious and unre- 

 munerative work. 



We now leave the Humming Birds, and pass to other inhabi- 

 tants of America. 



Still keeping to Brazil, we come upon another pensile bird, 

 called the Azuee Ccereba (Gcereba cyanad). This beautiful 

 little creature scarcely yields to any of the gorgeous humming 

 birds in the glory of its plumage, and far exceeds many of them 

 in the fiery brilliance of its hues. Blue is the chief colour in 

 this Ccereba, and, strange to say, different qualities of blue are 

 found in the same bird, without jarring with each other, so 



