IV 
HUMMING-BIRDS 
321 
returning to the twig. Others come out just at dusk, and 
remain on the wing, now stationary, now darting about with 
the greatest rapidity, imitating in a limited space the evolu- 
tions of the goatsuckers, and evidently for the same end 
and purpose. Mr. Gosse also remarks : “ All the humming- 
birds have more or less the habit, when in flight, of pausing 
in the air and throwing the body and tail into rapid and odd 
contortions. This is most observable in the Polytmus, from 
the effect that such motions have on the long feathers of the 
tail. That the object of these quick turns is the capture of 
insects, I am sure, having watched one thus engaged pretty 
close to me. I observed it carefully, and distinctly saw the 
minute flies in the air which it pursued and caught, and 
heard repeatedly the snapping of the beak. My presence 
scarcely disturbed it, if at all.” 
There is also an extensive group of small brown humming- 
birds, forming the sub-family Phaethornithinse, which rarely 
or never visit flowers, but frequent the shady recesses of the 
forest, where they hunt for minute insects. They dart about 
among the foliage, and visit in rapid succession every leaf 
upon a branch, balancing themselves vertically in the air, 
passing their beaks closely over the under-surface of each leaf, 
and thus capturing, no doubt, any small insects that may 
lurk there. While doing this, the two long feathers of the 
tail have a vibrating motion, serving apparently as a rudder 
to assist them in performing the delicate operation. Others 
search up and down stems and dead sticks in the same 
manner, every now and then picking off something, exactly 
as a bush -shrike or a tree-creeper does, with the difference 
that the humming-bird is constantly on the wing ; while the 
remarkable sickle-bill is said to probe the scale-covered stems 
of palms and tree-ferns to obtain its insect food. 
It is a well-known fact that although humming-birds are 
easily tamed, they cannot be preserved long in captivity, even 
in their own country, when fed only on syrup. Audubon 
states that when thus fed they only live a month or two and 
die apparently starved ; while if kept in a room whose open 
windows are covered with a fine net, so as to allow small 
insects to enter, they have been kept for a whole year without 
any ill effects. Another writer, Mr. Webber, captured and 
