REVIEWS, 
5 
find them up near the region where patches of recently-fallen snow begin 
to cover the last effort of vegetable life, before the line of eternal snow 
begins. 
The dazzling beauty of these winged gems has, at all times, attracted at¬ 
tention, whether viewed amid the glowing scenery of their native forests, or 
seen (as it was lately the privilege of the inhabitants and visitors to the 
British metropolis) in the more artificial display of a collection. Every epi¬ 
thet which man’s ingenuity could invent has been used to give an idea of 
the richness of their colouring—the lustres of the emerald and of rubies 
have been compared to them; but all fall short of the real brilliancy of some 
of the Trochilidae, when seen hovering around the flowers of some tree, 
with their breasts flashing in the sun’s rays. In the days of the “ gentle 
Cortes,” Prince Montezuma met the Peruvian conqueror clad in a superb 
garment, not glittering with gold and silver, but with the feathers of these 
birds; and even the Indian could appreciate their loveliness, and delighted to 
adorn his bride with gems and jewellery plucked from the starry frontlets 
of these beauteous forms ;* and in his native language they are styled 
by no unapt metaphor, the “ beams” or “locks” of the' sun. 
It has somewhere been flippantly said, that “ in tropical countries, where 
brilliant and varied colours have been granted to the birds and flowers, 
song has been denied to the one and fragrance to the other,” This is by 
no means a correct assertion; and even in this tribe of “ brilliant 
and varied” coloured birds, we have a striking example of its 
impropriety; for the very smallest of all birds—as we are told by 
Mr. Gosse, in a charming passage in one of his worksj*—“The tiny 
vervain hummingbird (Mellisuga humilis), not larger than a school¬ 
boy’s thumb, utters a song so sweet, but of sounds so attenuated withal, 
that you wonder who the musician can be, and are ready to think it the 
voice of an invisible fairy, when, presently, you see the atom of a performer 
perched on the topmost twig of a mango or orange tree, his slender beak 
open, and his spangled throat quivering, as if he would expire his little soul 
in the effort.” 
The migration of these birds might at first appear strange ; but the more 
one studies the works of a Supreme Creator, the more will he be struck by 
the admirable fitness of all things for the conditions with which they are 
surrounded; and beautifully is this exemplified in the present instance. Well 
may we in every case admire the wonderful works of God. It is true the 
hummingbird need not leave any of its accustomed haunts, because the 
* “ Hummingbirds,” by Sir W. Jardine, vol. i., p. 96. 
+ “ A Naturalist’s Sojourn in Jamaica,” p. 179. 
