INTRODUCTION. 



xiii 



and gem -studded plumes are exhibited to the best advantage, and 

 be seems to say, "Look, good people, look, what a beautiful bird 

 I am!" 



Waterton, in his "Wanderings in South America," tells us that, 

 "Though least in size, the glittering mantle of the Humming Bird 

 entitles it to the first place in the list of birds of the new world. 

 It may truly be called the Bird of Paradise; and, had it existed 

 iu the old world, it would have claimed the title, instead of the 

 bird which has now the honour to bear it. See it darting through 

 the air almost as quickly as thought! JN"ow it is within a yard 

 of your face! — in an instant gone! Now it flutters from flower 



now an emerald — now all burnished gold." 



The French naturalist, Bufibn, had said, before the above enthusi- 

 astic description was written, "Of all animated beings, this is the 

 most elegant in form and splendid in colouring. Precious stones 

 and metals artificially polished, can never be compared to this 

 jewel of nature, who has placed it in the order of birds, at the 

 bottom of the scale of magnitude, while all the gifts which are 

 shared among others — nimbleness, rapidity, sprightliness, grace, and 

 rich decoration, have been bestowed upon this little favourite. The 

 emerald, the ruby, and the topaz, sparkle in its plumage, which is 

 never soiled by the ground, for its whole life being aerial, it rarely 

 lights on the turf. It dwells in the air, and flitting from flower 

 to [flower, it seems to be itself a flower in freshness and splendour; 

 it feeds on their nectar, and resides in climates wdiere they blow iu 

 perpetual succession; for the few which migrate out of the Tropics 



PLUMAGE. 



now a ruby — now a topaz — 



