2 12 The Naturalist in La Plata. 



It has frequently been remarked that humming- 

 birds are more like insects than birds in disposition. 

 Some species, on quitting their perch, perform wide 

 bee-like circles about the tree before shooting away 

 in a straight line. Their aimless attacks on other 

 species approaching or passing near them, even on 

 large birds like hawks and pigeons, is a habit they 

 have in common with many solitary wood-boring 

 bees. They also, like dragon-flies and other insects, 

 attack each other when they come together while 

 feeding ; and in this case their action strangely 

 resembles that of a couple of butterflies, as they 

 revolve about each other and rise vertically to a 

 great height in the air. Again, like insects, they 

 are undisturbed at the presence of man while 

 feeding, or even when engaged in building and in- 

 cubation ; and like various solitary bees, wasps, &c., 

 they frequently come close to a person walking or 

 standing, to hover suspended in the air within a 

 few inches of his face ; and if then struck at they 

 often, insect-like, return to circle round his head. 

 All other birds, even those which display the least 

 versatility, and in districts where man is seldom 

 seen, show as much caution as curiosity in his 

 presence ; they recognize in the upright unfamiliar 

 form a living being and a possible enemy. Mr. 

 Whiteley, who observed humming-birds in Peru, says 

 it is an amusing sight to watch the Lesbia nuna 

 attempting to pass to a distant spot in a straight 

 line during a high wind, which, acting on the long 

 tail feathers, carries it quite away from the point 

 aimed at. Insects presenting a large surface to the 

 wind are always blown from their course in the 



