CAPTURE OF HUMMING-BIRDS. 467 



them. The French soldiers who shared in the Mexican expedition 

 report that pictures made with the feathers of the Humming-bird are 

 brilliant and effective. 



Humming-birds cannot be preserved in captivity — not that they 



Fig. 187. — Sapho Comet. 



do not become familiar and affectionate, but their extreme delicacy 

 unfits them for restraint, for in spite of the utmost care that can be 

 bestowed on them, they will die in a few months. In their habitat 

 they are killed by concussion or with the sarbaca?ie; if desired alive, 

 they are taken with a butterfly net. 



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