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Notices of New Books. 



probe the flower, and then shoot off to another part of the tree. They 

 do not proceed in that methodical manner in which bees follow, taking 

 the flowers seriatim, but skip about from one part of the tree to the other 

 in the most capricious way. Sometimes two males close with each other 

 and fight, mounting upwards in the struggle as insects are often seen 

 to do when similarly engaged, and then separating hastily and darting 

 back to their work. Now and then they stop to rest, perching on 

 leafless twigs, when they may be sometimes seen probing, from the 

 place where they sit, the flowers within their reach. The brilliant 

 colours with which they are adorned cannot be seen whilst they are 

 fluttering about, nor can the different species be distinguished, unless 

 they have a deal of white hue in their plumage, such as Heliothrix 

 auritus, which is wholly white underneath, although of a glittering 

 green colour above, and the white-tailed Florisuga mellivora. There 

 is not a great variety of humming birds in the Amazons region, 

 the number of species being far smaller in these uniform forest plains 

 than in the diversified valleys of the Andes, under the same parallels 

 of latitude. The family is divisible into two groups contrasted in form 

 and habits ; one containing species which live entirely in the shade of 

 the forests, and the other comprising those which prefer open sunny 

 places. The forest species (Phaethorninae) are seldom seen at flowers, 

 flowers being, in the shady places where they abide, of rare occurrence; 

 but they search for insects on leaves, threading the bushes and passing 

 above and beneath each leaf with wonderful rapidity. The other 

 group (Trochilinae) are not quite confined to cleared places, as they 

 come into the forest wherever a tree is in blossom, and descend into 

 sunny openings where flowers are to be found. But it is only where 

 the woods are less dense than usual that this is the case : in the lofty 

 forest and twilight shades of the lowlands and islands they are scarcely 

 ever seen. I searched well at Caripi, expecting to find the Lophornis 

 Gouldii, which I was told had been obtained in the locality. This is 

 one of the most beautiful of all humming birds, having round its neck 

 a frill of long white feathers tipped with golden green. I was not, 

 however, fortunate enough to meet with it. Several times I shot by 

 mistake a humming-bird hawk-moth instead of a bird. This moth 

 (Macroglossa Titan) is somewhat smaller than humming birds gene- 

 rally are, but its manner of flight and the way it poises itself 

 before a flower whilst probing it with its proboscis are precisely like 

 the same actions of humming birds. It was only after many days 

 experience that I learnt to distinguish one from the other when on 

 the wing. This resemblance has attracted the notice of the natives, 



