SOUTH AMERICA. 
105 
tlie bird of paradise; and had it existed in the old 
world, it would have claimed the title instead of the 
bird which has now the honour to bear it:—see it 
darting through the air almost as quick as thought! 
—now it is within a yard of your face!—in an 
instant gone !—now it flutters from flower to flower 
to sip the silver dew—it is now a ruby—now a 
topaz—now an emerald—now all burnished gold ! 
It would be arrogant to pretend to describe this 
winged gem of nature after Buflon’s elegant descrip¬ 
tion of it. 
Cayenne and Demerara produce the same hum¬ 
ming-birds. Perhaps you would wash to know 
something of their haunts. Chiefly in the months of 
July and August, the tree called Bois Immortel, 
very common in Demerara, bears abundance of red 
blossom, which stays on the tree for some weeks ; 
then it is that most of the different species of hum¬ 
ming-birds are very plentiful. The wild red sage is 
also their favourite shrub, and they buzz like bees 
round the blossom of the wallaba tree. Indeed, 
there is scarce a flower in the interior, or on the sea- 
coast, but what receives frequent visits from one or 
other of the species. 
On entering the forests, on the rising land in the 
interior, the blue and green, the smallest brown, no 
bigger than the humble bee, with two long feathers 
in the tail, and the little forked-tail purple-throated 
humming-birds, glitter before you in ever-changing 
attitudes. One species alone never shows his beauty 
to the sun; and were it not for his lovely shining 
SECOND 
JOURNEY. 
Haunts of 
the hum¬ 
ming 
birds. 
