HUMMING BIRD* 
213 
‘“in retire to the south. I have, indeed, 
30 ^®'''raes seen a solitary individual on the 28th and 
buj that month, and sometimes even in October; 
cases are rare. About the ben^inninj of 
lj,,T‘'®’ber, they pass the southern houudary of the 
ij,j®d States into Florida. 
t''™® inches and a half in 
and four and a quarter iu e.\tent; the whole 
hi['’ upper part of the neck, sides under the wings, 
j^poverts, and two middle feathers of the tail, are of 
golden green ; the tail is forked, and, as well as 
vri„j,„^ of a deep brownish purple; the hill and 
* iire black ; the legs and feet, both of which are 
Vtr small, arc also black ; the bill is straig'ht, 
fstf *'®''der, a little inflated at the tip, and very iucom- 
to the exploit of penetrating the tough sinewy 
tl),,' a crow, and precipitating it from the clouds to 
^‘‘^rth, as Charlevoix would persuade his readers to 
«it Tile nosti-ils are two small oblong slits, 
at the base of the upper mandible, scarcely 
,i , when the bird is dead, though very distin- 
iH[i ‘'*l*le and prominent vrhen living; the sides of the 
aiid belly itself, dusky white, mixed with green; 
tjifij"'!'at constitutes the chief ornament of this little 
Viji’ 's the splendour of the feathers of bis throat, 
ill; ,*r> "hen placeil in a proper position, glow with 
*'0* I *’rilliancy of the ruby. These feathers are of 
i!(^|mar strength and texture, lying; close together like 
and vary, when moved before the eye, from a 
blael c to a liery crimson and burning orange. The 
in "I ® is destitute of this ornament ; but differs little 
Ivjjl * '•■V appearance from the male; her tail is tipt 
tinf* "'hitc, and the whole lower parts are of the same 
'*‘'tl f ^'*'® .vouug birds of the first season, both mate 
ill;,, ®uialc, have the tail tipt with white, and the whole 
fill. Piirts nearly white ; in the month of September, 
>tijl ®’’"amontal feathers on the throat of the young 
** i'egin to appear. 
Hhtoire de la Nouvelle France^ iii, p. 185, 
