Sfnmr Colony Birds. 
127 
" I had 1)ee,n hut a fow months in Domcrara, when one of the 
" boys brought me a tiny irummiiifr-bird, slightly clamajjed in the 
"iwui^. All my zoological instincts were aroused at the touch of 
■' this tiniest and most wonderful of Nature's handiwork in the 
"shape of a bird. It was a While -throated Emerald (.1. lencng- 
" aster) which is common eiu^ugh in Georgetown 
"I hardly expected to keep my little stranger alive; but I ex- 
" temporized a cage: a chalk box fitted with miniatui-e perches 
" and surmounted with a piece of perforated zinc in the shape 
"of a gable... It soon l)anished all fear. ..This bird with the soul 
" of an insect, as someone has aptly described it — and when I 
" presented a little syrup made of brown sugar and water, the 
" tiny creature ])ut out its forked tongue and drank with avidity. 
" So it lived for several weeks anVl by then was able to make 
" short (lights about the room. But it always required me to put 
" its bill into the narrow tube containing the syrup, before it 
"drank. It had not the sense to help itself. One day when I 
" was busy with my mail letters it took a higher flight than 
" usual, and disappeai'ed through the open window, and I saw it no 
" more There is no flapping of the wings in the 
"Humming-bird. It whirls them rapidly round like a school-boy 
"doing arm e xorcise ; but, of course, with lightning speed . . . . 
" Its manner of flight is like that of a dragon-fly, and its utility 
"is two-fold. The first is obvious: it enables the bird to extract 
" the nectar from delicate flowers with the least trouble to 
" itself, and without detriment to them. I discovered the second 
" as I was being rowed, early one morning, along the bank 
" of Mazaruni River. A cloud of mosquitoes were dancing in a 
" patch of light that streamed through the foliage of the mangrove, 
" and in the midst was a Humming-bird taking its breakfast at 
" leisure. A Swallow, be it observed, would have been obliged 
" to fly backwards and forwards through the cloud of insects and 
" might eventually have dispersed it ... . but my humming 
friend slowly mounted his airy stair and picked off his tiny 
" victims as he chose. Needless to say, the body of the bird, like 
" that of an insect, remains stationary at will, despite the rapid 
"motion of the wings. It is well known now that small insects 
form the staple food of Humming-birds, so that in captivity it 
" is necessary to supply an equivalent food ; and this may be done 
" in the form of white-of-egg." 
Jacobin Humming Bird {Florisuga mellwora) . This 
species Mr. Dawson acquired by simply picking it np. It had 
temporarily disabled itself by dashing through one open window 
against another. It is a gorgeous species flashing like a jewel 
in the light. Head and breast ultramarine-blue; body and 
wing coverts metallic green; flights dull black; vent and tail 
