LECTURE V. 189 



in miniature, its internal diameter being about 

 an inch, and its depth about half an inch. The 

 bird lays only two eggs, which are white, round, 

 and of the size of small pease. It is a general 

 rule of nature that the smallest birds lay the 

 greatest number of eggs, but in the Humming- 

 Bird this rule seems reversed. 



The smallest of all the Humming-Birds is the 

 TrQchilus Minimus of Linnseus ; but it is not very 

 splendid in colour, being of a dull gilded green 

 above, with brown or purplish wings and tail, and 

 white beneath ; it measures only an inch and 

 quarter in total length, from the tip of the bill to 

 the end of the tail. It is a native of South- America, 

 but is said likewise to be sometimes found in tlie 

 island of Jamaica. 



One of the largest of all the Humming-birds is 

 the Trochiliis Pella or Topaz Humming-Bird, the 

 body of which is of the size of a Wren, but as 

 the two middle tail-feathers greatly exceed the 

 rest in length, and as the bill is, also of consider- 

 able length, the total extent of the bird amounts 

 to more than eight inches. The colour of the body 

 is a deep brownish rose-red ; of the back, wings, 

 and tail purple; the head black, and the throat 



