LECTURE V. 191 



that this is owing to the barbs or lateral plumes of 

 the feathers being of a flattened form, of a some- 

 what horny structure, and so disposed as to form 

 on each feather very numerous rows of concave 

 cylindric mirrors as it were, which very strongly 

 reflect the light which falls upon them in diflerent 

 directions. There is one more particular to be 

 noticed with respect to this curious genus, which 

 is, that if we may rely on the observations of a 

 French observer, who had frequent opportunities 

 of examining their manner of life in the West 

 Indies, some of the larger Humming-birds have 

 been known to svvallow minute insects as well as 

 the juices of flowers ; fragments of such, accord- 

 ing to Monsieur Badier, having been sometimes 

 found in their stomachs. This however is con- 

 tradicted by others who have never been able to 

 perceive any remains of insects in the stomachs 

 of these birds, but merely the chrystallized sac- 

 charine matter or juice which had been extracted 

 from flowers. 



One would almost be tempted to suppose that 

 in those cases in which the remains of insects had 

 been found, some species of Certhia or Creeper had 

 been mistaken for a Humming-bird ; the Certhise 



