HUMMING-BIRD. 33 



darting about, and fighting with and pursuing each other. About 

 the twentieth of September they generally retire to the south. I 

 have, indeed, sometimes seen a solitary individual on the twenty 

 eighth and thirtieth of that month, and sometimes even in Octo- 

 ber; but these cases are rare. About the beginning of November 

 they pass the southern boundary of the United States into Florida. 



The Humming-bird is three inches and a half in length, and 

 four and a quarter in extent; the whole back, upper part of the 

 neck, sides under the wings, tail coverts, and two middle feathers 

 of the tail, are of a rich golden green; the tail is forked, and, as 

 well as the wings, of a deep brownish purple; the bill and eyes are 

 black; the legs and feet, both of which are extremely small, are 

 also black; the bill is straight, very slender, a little inflated at the 

 tip, and very incompetent to the exploit of penetrating the tough 

 sinewy side of a crow, and precipitating it from the clouds to the 

 earth, as Charlevoix would persuade his readers to believe.^ The 

 nostrils are two small oblong slits, situated at the base of the upper 

 mandible, scarcely perceivable when the bird is dead, tho very dis- 

 tinguishable and prominent when living; the sides of the belly and 

 belly itself dusky white, mixed with green; but what constitutes 

 the chief ornament of this little bird, is the splendor of the feathers 

 of his throat, which, when placed in a proper position, glow with 

 all the brilliancy of the ruby. These feathers are of singular 

 strength and texture, lying close together like scales, and vary 

 when moved before the eye from a deep black to a fiery crimson 

 and burning orange. The female is destitute of this ornament; 

 but differs little in other appearance from the male; her tail is tipt 

 with white, and the whole lower parts are of the same tint. The 

 young birds of the first season, both male and female, have the tail 

 tipt with white, and the whole lower parts nearly white ; in the 

 month of September the ornamental feathers on the throat of the 

 young males begin to appear. 



* Hist, de la Nov. France, III, p. 185, 

 VOL. II. I 



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