MY HUMMING BIRDS. 



09 



I ventured to suggest, in the first part of this article, that the 

 Scarlet, or Buby -throated Humming Bird has been confounded with 

 another variety, which I have named the Green, or Green-backed 

 Humming Bird. They are both very common north of Florida, and 

 indeed the Buby -throat is said to be the only variety which visits 

 us at the North. The Green Humming Bird resembles the old 

 female of the Buby-throated bird, or Scarlet-throat, as we have 

 called it from the predominance of that blazing hue in the changing 

 splendours of its throat! The Green birds resemble also the young- 

 female of the Buby-throat — and hence the confusion. The points 

 of distinction, however, are clear enough, when the attention has 

 been once attracted toward noting them. The two families of my 

 pets belonged to the two varieties, and, therefore, I bad ample 

 opportunity of careful comparison. The female of all Humming 

 Birds is the largest; — well, in the matter of size I found the dif- 

 ference to be this — the female of the Kuby-throat is of the same 

 size with the male of the Green — while the female of the G reen is 

 nearly one-third larger. The throat of the male of the Green is 

 always a pure, clear white, while the plumage of the back is a darker 

 and more resplendent green. The throat of the Buby during the 

 first year is distinctly marked a greyish blue over that portion 

 which, at the next moulting, assumes its splendid colours. 



There is no possibility of mistaking the males of the two in the 

 nest or out of it. The bill of the Green is much longer and coarser; 

 as are its shape, plumage, and colour, than the Buby, which is one 

 of the most fairy-like and graceful of all the Hummers. Their habits 

 do not seem to differ in any very essential particulars, but no ob- 

 server, however careless, can fail to see the marked differences 

 between the two varieties when compared together, either on the 

 wing or perched. The flight of the Green is the more heavy and 

 slow, and it seems to possess less of spirit and boldness than the 

 other. The pair that returned to me the next spring were Green 

 Humming Birds, and the male of this pair never exhibited either 

 the bluish blotch on the throat, which the Buby has when it comes 

 from the nest; nor was there any change perceptible in the plumage 

 at all, except that the white of the throat and breast had become a 

 purer white, and the green of the back darker, more variable and 

 brilliant. The nest, too, is larger by nearly one-third, and less ele- 

 gantly finished than that of the Buby. So marked is the difference 

 between the two varieties, that I can easily point them out on the 

 wing in our gardens, although not only all our American naturalists 

 have classed them as one species, but the great mass of interested 

 observers are not yet aware of the differences. 



Now that attention has once been called to the facts, they are 

 promptly enough seen and recognised. Mr. Audubon gives us four 



