SALLE’S HERMIT HUMMING-BIRD .— Phaethornis Augusti. 
All the Hermit Humming-Birds are remarkable for the very long ?nd 
beautifully graduated tail, all the feathers being long and pointed, and the two 
central far exceeding the rest. The two sexes are mostly alike, both in the 
colour and shape of their plumage and in size. These birds inhabit Venezuela 
and the Carracas, being generally found in the richest district of those localities, 
where the flowers blossom most abundantly. 
All the Hermits build a very curious and beautiful nest, of a long funnel-like 
form tapering to a slender point, and woven with the greatest neatness to some 
delicate twig or pendent leaf by means of certain spiders* webs. The material 
of which it is made is silky cotton fibre, intermixed with a woolly kind of 
furze, and bound together with spider- w r eb. 
Our present example is Salle’s Hermit, a most beautiful bird. Verr 
little is known of its habits, but, like the generality of Humming-birds, it does 
not possess any great power of voice. Indeed, even in the few instances where 
one of these birds is gifted with vocal powers, its song is of a feeble and 
uncertain character, and in England would attract little attention. 
The plumage of this bird on the upper parts of its body are green-bronze, 
excepting the upper tail coverts, which are rusty red. The wings are purple- 
brown. The central tail-feathers are bronze, largely tipped with white, and the 
remaining feathers are white, with the exception of a broad black band, drawn 
obliquely across them near the base. Above and below the eye there is a white 
streak, and the colour of the under parts of the body is sober grey. 
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