SWORD-BILL HUMMING-BIRD. 379 



flight, he can avoid the attacks of even the swiftest of the 

 larger race. 



There is a remarkable circumstance connected with hum- 

 ming-birds, especially in lofty regions, where they are more 

 particularly susceptible of electric influences. It is well 

 known that in many regions small birds are found killed 

 after a thunder-storm, in consequence of the amount of elec- 

 tricity in the air. The humming-birds, as if conscious of this 

 danger, build their nests of peculiar form, and of materials 

 which are bad conductors of electricity, within which they 

 are thoroughly protected. The nests of some are shaped like 

 inverted cones, tapering to a fine point — that, as is supposed, 

 the electricity which would destroy the delicate young ones, 

 or the vitality of the eggs, may pass off into the air. 



Their notes are very feeble, rarely rising into a whistle. In 

 one week after they are hatched, the young birds are ready 

 to fly, but they are fed by their parents for nearly another 

 week. Their plumage, however, does not attain its full bril- 

 liancy till the succeeding spring. 



But we must confine ourselves to the humming-birds of the 

 Cordilleras, on the western coast. 



SWORD-BILL HUMMING-BIRD. 

 At the north of the range, between Santa Fe de Bogota 

 and Quito, at an elevation often of 12,000 feet, is found the 

 sword-bill humming-bird. Its name is derived from the 

 length of its beak, which is nearly as long as its body, and 

 enables it to seek its food from the long pendent corollas of 

 the Bruginansse. Nothing can exceed the elegance of its 

 movements as it probes the pendent blossoms, searching to 

 their inmost depths. Its nest, woven with wonderful skill 



