HUMMING-BIRDS. 
69 
the side of woody fresli- water rivers^ and dark and lonely 
creeks. He leaves his retreat before sunrise^ to feed on the 
insects over the water ; he returns to it as soon as the sun^s 
rays cause a glare of light, is sedentary all day long, and 
comes out again for a short time after sunset. He builds 
his nest on a twig over the water in the unfrequented creeks ; 
it looks like tanned cow-leather (pp. 114, 115). He tells 
us (p. 289) that the rim of this nest is doubled inwards, and 
that at first he believed that it had taken this shape from the 
bird pressing against it with her body when she was laying 
her eggs. He afterwards found out that a provident instinct 
has taught the little creature to give the nest this shape, and 
that in this way the eggs, which would be apt to be tilted out by 
the swaying of the branches, are prevented from rolling out. 
The number of species of humming-birds is very great ; 
on Plate V. are three species (fig. 1. Oreotrochilus Chimhora- 
zensis ; fig. 2. Oxypogon Gtierinii ; fig. 3. Trochihts mel- 
livonis). Since Messrs. Bourcier and Gould have recently 
commenced handsome monographs of them, species un- 
known to science^^ are brought to our museums, especially 
from the more elevated parts of South America ; for of the 
slopes of the Andes it may be more truly said than of any 
other part of that vast continent, that, 
