HUMMING-BIRDS. 
27 
this habit being probably induced by the shortness of its wings. The first specimen 
seen was perched on a twig preening its feathers, and, for a few moments, the 
observer was doubtful whether such a tiny creature could really be a bird. Another 
he noticed bathing, and watched its movements for some time before shooting it. 
“ The little creature,” he says, “ would poise itself about three feet or so above the 
surface of the water, and then, as quick as thought, would dart downwards, so as 
to dip its head in the placid pool, then up again to its original position, quite as 
quickly as it had descended. These movements of darting up and down, it would 
repeat in rapid succession, which produced more than a moderate disturbance on 
the surface of the water, for such a diminutive creature. After a considerable 
number of dippings it alighted on a twig near at hand, and commenced pluming 
its feathers.” 
intermediate The forty-eight genera included under this section are character- 
Group. ised by having the sheath of the upper mandible of the bill very 
feebly serrated towards the end of the cutting-edge. As with the previous section, 
all kinds of forms are included within its limits, from the lovely hill-stars 
(Diplogena) to the duller-coloured amazilia. The hill-stars, which inhabit the 
Andes from Ecuador to Bolivia, are remarkable for their brilliant crown-spots, and 
are among the largest members of the family, extracting the nectar from flowers 
in a leisurely manner. Stolzmann indeed relates that he has even seen them 
perched on the dead branch of a tree, flying out into the air, after the manner 
of a flycatcher. In this division are likewise included the lovely comets (Sappho), 
with their long coppery or red tails and green throats; these birds extending 
from the interior of Argentina to Chili, Bolivia, and Central Peru. 
Fork-Tailed Forming a genus known as Lesbia, these elegant birds are found 
Humming-Birds. j n the Andes, from Colombia and V enezuela to Bolivia ; and are dark 
green in colour, with a short bill, very nearly straight, while they are specially 
distinguished by their very long, forked tails, in which the feathers are even 
narrower than in the comets (Sappho). Mr. Stolzmann found one of the species 
(L. gracilis) at the height of from seven thousand five hundred to ten thousand 
feet on the Andes of Peru, where it was apparently migratory, as he noticed it to 
be common at Tambillo in December and January, whereas in June not one was to 
be seen. The same naturalist is the rediscoverer of the wonderful Loddigesia 
(mentioned below); and he noticed that the fork-tailed species had a great antipathy 
to the racket-tailed Loddigesia, which it was always driving away from the 
flowers. Its voice is quite characteristic, a tsi-tsi-tsi, very loudly uttered, and in 
a descending scale, and on visiting flowers it makes a sort of clapping noise, 
like that produced by pigeons when striking their wings together over their 
backs. 
Smooth-Beaked Although resembling the last in their variety of form and 
Group. coloration, this group differs in the absence of serrations in the 
cutting-edges of the beak. As our first representatives of the group may be 
noticed the curved-billed hermits (Eatoxeres), of which there are four species, 
all remarkable for the strong curvature of the beak, which describes fully one- 
third of a circle. The plumage is dull, and devoid of metallic sheen; while the 
tail is rounded, with the extremities of the feathers pointed. I 11 Peru one of these 
