HUMMING-BIRDS. 493 



suspended to a leaf, sometimes to a small branch, bundle of rushes, 

 or even to the straw roof of a hut. The hen bird lays twice a year 

 a pair of eggs of a pure white, about the size of a pea. 



After an incubation of six days the young are hatched ; a week 

 later they are capable of flight. During the breeding season the 

 males are tender and demonstrative, and both parents show much 

 affection for their progeny. 



These little creatures are universally admired for their elegance 

 and beauty, and the names given them are generally descriptive 

 of their excessive minuteness. The Creoles of the Antilles call 

 them Murmurers ; the Spaniards Picqflores ; the Brazilians Chu- 

 pqflores, or Flower- suckers ; finally, the Indians call these darlings 

 Sunbeams. 



Humming-birds are much sought after — not for their flesh, 

 which is valueless from its minute quantity, but for their feathers : 

 these ladies turn to various uses, such as collars, pendants for 

 the ears, &c. Some of the Indian races which have been con- 

 verted to Christianity employ them to decorate the images of 

 their favourite saints. The Mexicans and Peruvians formerly 

 employed them for trimming mantles. The French soldiers who 

 shared in the Mexican expedition report that pictures with the 

 feathers of the Humming-bird are fresh, brilliant, and effective. 



Humming-birds cannot be preserved in captivity — not that 

 they do not become familiar and affectionate, but their extreme 

 delicacy unfits them for confinement, and in spite of the 

 utmost care that can be bestowed on them, they will . die in a 

 few months. In their habitat they are killed with very small 

 shot or with the sarbacane : if desired aHve, they are taken with 

 a butterfly net. 



Among the most formidable enemies of the Troehilidce may be 

 reckoned the Monster Spider {Mygale avicularia), which spins its 

 web round their nests, and devours eggs or little ones ; even the 

 old birds are sometimes its victims. Humming-birds are scattered 

 over the whole of South and l^orth America, even as far north as 

 Canada ; but in Brazil and Guiana they are most abundant. At 

 least five hundred species are known. Cuvier included them in his 

 genus Colibri. Mr. Gould has described three hundred of which 

 he has actual specimens ; these he divides into fifty-two genera. 



