THE HUMMING BIRDS. 255 



of a strong will really set themselves to attain a definite object they 

 generally accomplish it ; and in my own case the time at length arrived 

 when I was permitted to revel in the delight of seeing the Humming 

 Birds in a state of nature, and to observe their habits in the woods and 

 among the great flowering trees of the United States of America and 

 in Canada." 



It is not the naturalist alone, however, who has been attracted by 

 the wonderful beauty of Humming Birds. The demand for them is 

 great for purely ornamental purposes, and though this has vastly 

 added to their destruction it has, as a fortunate recompense, enabled 

 naturalists to become better acquainted with them, the immense num- 

 ber of specimens often contained in milliners' and taxidermists' stocks 

 frequently yielding species which otherwise would scarcely have become 

 known to science. " Both Frenchmen and Belgians," says Mr. Gould, 

 "have proceeded to South America to procure supplies of these birds, 

 and dealers from those countries have established themselves in some 

 of the cities of that part of the world for the like purpose. From Sta. 

 F6 de Bogota alone many thousands of skins are annually sent to Lou- 

 don and Paris, and sold as ornaments for the drawing-room and for 

 scientific purposes. The Indians readily learn the art of skinning and 

 preserving, and, as a certain amount of emolument attends the collect- 

 ing of these objects, they often traverse great distances to p ocuro 

 them ; districts more than a hundred miles on either side of Bogota 

 are strictly searched ; and hence it is that from these places alone we 

 receive not less than seventy species of these birds. In like manner 

 the residents of many parts of Brazil employ their slaves in collecting, 

 skinning, and preserving them for European markets, and many thou- 

 sands are annually sent from Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Pernambuco. 

 They also supply the inmates of the convents with many of the more 

 richly colored species for the manufacture of artificial feather-flowers." 

 Vast numbers are also used by the natives of Mexico in producing the 

 wonderful feather pictures for which the descendants of the Aztecs are 

 famous. 



Regarding the method by which specimens of these dimunitive birds 

 are obtained by the collector, there exists much popular misunder- 

 standing. " Many really absurd statements," says Mr. Gould, " have 

 been made as to the means by which these birds are obtained for our 

 cabinets. It is most frequently asserted that they are shot with water or 

 with sand. Now, so far as I am aware, these devices are never resorted 

 to, but they are usually procured in the usual way, with Nos. 10 and 

 11 shot, those being the sizes best suited for the purpose. If smaller 

 shot be used the plumage is very frequently so cut and damaged that 

 the specimen is rendered of little or no value. By far the greater num- 

 ber fall to the clay ball of the blowpipe, which the Indians, and in 

 some instances even Europeans, use with perfect certainty of aim. . . 

 . . In Brazil very fine nets are employed for this purpose, but how 



