1812 Birds. 



that evening, and all the next day from earliest dawn till dusk. He would sit on the 

 edge of the tables, on the lines, on shelves, or on the floor, ever glancing about, now 

 and then flitting up into the air, when the snap of his beak announced a capture, and 

 he returned to some station to eat it. He would peep into the lowest and darkest 

 corners, even under the tables, for the little globose, long-legged spiders, which he 

 would drag from their webs and swallow. He sought these also about the ceiling and 

 walls, and found very many. I have said that he continued at this employment all 

 day without intermission, and, though I took no account, I judged that, on an ave- 

 rage, he made a capture per minute. We may thus form some idea of the immense 

 number of insects destroyed by these and similar birds ; bearing in mind that this 

 was in a room, where the human eye scarcely recognized a dozen insects altogether ; 

 and that in the free air insects would doubtless be much more numerous. Water in a 

 basin was in the room, but I did not see him drink, though occasionally he perched on 

 the brim ; and when I inserted his beak into the water he would not drink. Though 

 so actively engaged in his own occupation, he cared nothing for the presence of man \ 

 he sometimes alighted voluntarily on our heads, shoulders, or fingers ; and when sit- 

 ting would permit me at any time to put my hand over him and take him up ; though 

 when in the hand he would struggle to get out. He seemed likely to thrive, but in- 

 cautiously settling in front of a dove-cage, a surly baldpate poked his head through 

 the wires, and with his beak aimed a cruel blow at the pretty green head of the unof- 

 fending aud unsuspecting tody. He appeared not to mind it at first, but did not 

 again fly, and about an hour afterwards, on my taking him into my haud, and throw- 

 ing him up, he could only flutter to the ground, and on laying him on the table, he 

 stretched out his little feet, shivered, and died." — p. 74. 



The Long-tailed Humming-bird ( Trochilus Polytmus). — " While I lingered in the 

 romantic place, picking up some of the land shells which were scattered among the 

 rocks, suddenly I heard the whirr of a humming bird, and, looking up, saw a female 

 Polytmus hovering opposite the nest, with a mass of silk cotton in her beak. Deterred 

 by the sight of me, she presently retired to a twig, a few paces distant, on which she 

 sat. I immediately sunk down among the rocks as quietly as possible, and remained 

 perfectly still. In a few seconds she came again, and after hovering a moment dis- 

 appeared behind one of the projections, whence in a few seconds she emerged again 

 and flew off. I then examined the place, and found to my delight a new nest, in all 

 respects like the old one, but unfinished, affixed to another twig not a yard from it. I 

 again sat down among the stones in front, where I could see the nest, not concealing 

 myself, but remaining motionless, waiting for the petite bird's reappearance. I had 

 not to wait long : a loud whirr, and there she was, suspended in the air before her 

 nest : she soon espied me, and came within a foot of my eyes, hovering just in front of 

 my face. I remained still, however, when I heard the whirring of another just above 

 me, perhaps the male, but I durst not look towards him, lest the turning of my head 

 should frighten the female. In a minute or two the other was gone, and she alighted 

 again on the twig, where she sat some little time preening her feathers, and apparently 

 clearing her mouth from the cotton fibres, for she now and then swiftly projected the 

 tongue an inch and a half from the beak, continuing the same curve as that of the 

 beak. When she arose it was to perform a very interesting action ; for she flew to 

 the face of the rock, which was thickly clothed with soft dry moss, and hovering on the 

 wing, as if before a flower, began to pluck the moss, until she had a large bunch of it 

 in her beak ; then I saw her fly to the nest, and having seated herself in it, proceed to 



