SIR WM. JARD1N E ON HUMMING BIRDS. 



169 



plumery ' is all which they possess, and if there is no beautiful adaptation of structure 

 to supply the wants of so frail a tenement? 



" These birds are nearly confined to the tropical poitions of the New World, and, 

 according to our best information, that great archipelago of islands between Florida and 

 the mouths of the Orinoco, with the mainland of the southern continent, until it passes 

 the Tropic of Capricorn, literally swarms with them. In the wild and uncultivated 

 parts, they inhabit those forests of magnificent timber, overhung with lianas and the 

 superb tribe of bignonaceae, the huge trunks clothed with a rich drapery of parasites, 

 whose blossoms only give way in beauty to the sparkling tints of their airy tenants; 

 but since the cultivation of various parts of the country they abound in the gardens, 

 and seem to delight in society, become familiar, and destitute of fear, hovering over 

 one side of a shrub, while the fruit or flowers is plucked from that opposite. There 

 appears to exist great familiarity in their manners. They are of a lively and active 

 disposition, almost constantly on the wing, and performing all their motions with 

 great rapidity : their flight is in darts, and it is at this time, in a brilliant sun, that 

 the variations of their plumage are displayed with the greatest advantage. 



' Each rapid movement gives a different dye ; 

 Like scales of burnished gold they dazzling show, 

 Now sink to shade — now like a furnace glow.' 



" But when performing a lengthened flight, as during migration, they pass through 

 the air in long undulations, raising themselves for some distance, and then falling in a 

 curve. When about to feed, or in search of a favourite flower, they hover stationary, 

 surveying all around, and suddenly dart off to the object. ' I have often stopped/ says 

 Wilson, ' with pleasure, to observe their manoeuvres among the blossoms of a trumpet 

 flower. When arrived before a thicket of these, that are in full bloom, he poises or 

 suspends himself on wing for the space of two or three seconds so steadily, that his 

 wings become invisible, or only like a mist." And Bullock says, 'they remain sus- 

 pended in the air in a space barely sufficient for them to move their wings • and the 

 humming noise proceeds entirely from the surprising velocity with which they perform 

 that motion, by which they will keep their bodies in the air, apparently motionless, for 

 hours together." An older writer, Fermin, a Surinam physician, compares this action 

 to the balancing of the beautiful bee-like flies on foetid waters ; perhaps it may be 

 also likened to the motions of a large hawk-moth, before alighting on a flower. 



" They seldom alight upon the ground, but perch easily on branches. The ruby- 

 throated humming-bird settles on twigs and branches, where they move sideways in 

 prettily measured steps, frequently opening and closing their wings, pluming', stroking, 

 and arranging the whole of their apparel with neatness and activity. They are par- 

 ticularly fond of spreading one wing at a time, and passing each of the quill-feathers 

 through their bill in its whole length, when, if the sun is shining, the wing thus 

 plumed is rendered extremely transparent and light." (Audubon.) page 55. 



Every reader must agree with us that this is beautifully written, full 

 of correct information, such as none but a genuine naturalist could 

 have given, and such as none but a writer of fine literary taste could 

 have penned. The style, it may be remarked, has a character of its 

 own, quite different, though of the same delightful school as White, 



