Sa

OG:

In the winter, the abundance of other flowers

and the

like industry and application.
attentions to the hedgerows and woods.
h delight, the evolutions of this little species at a moring

the same business-
paucity of vervain-blossoms induce Its

«© T have sometimes watched, with muc , 7 en
] i t, he pursues the round of the blossoms soberly enough, sucking as he goes
When only one is present, sues

now and anon sitting quietly on the twig. eee By
hi If in the air a few yards distant, the other presently shoots off to him, and then, without touching each
uimself in the air ¢ yards dis 1

other, they mount upward with a strong rushing of wing : aa
> 4 ee 3: ; a a eri whee oe a
gonally towards the ground, like a ball from a rifle, anc ieeling round, comes up to

~

1s if it had not moved away at all. Frequently one alone

, and
But if two are about the tree, one will fly off, and suspending

s, perhaps for five hundred feet ; they then separate.

and each shoots dia

the blossoms again, and sucks, and sucks, « | 2 will
or dart on invisible wing diagonally upward, looking exactly like a humble-bee.

mount in this manner, ; —
Indeed the figure of the smaller Humming-Birds on the wing, their rapidity, their arrowy course, and their
whole A nee of flight are entirely those of an insect; and one ro has watched the flight of a large beetle
or bee, will have a very good idea of one of these tropic gems ae sams the sky. I have observed all
the three Jamaican species engaged in sucking the blossoms of a oo and have noticed that,
whereas Polytmus and Mango expand and depress the tail, when hovering before flowers, the humilis, on the
contrary, for the most part erects the tail, but not invariably. .

‘The present is the only Humming-Bird which I am acquainted, with that has a real song. Soon after
sunrise in the spring months, it is fond of sitting on the topmost twig of a mango or orange tree, where it
warbles, in a very weak but very sweet tone, a continuous melody for ten minutes at a time: it has little
variety. The others have only a pertinacious chirping.

“The small bushes of Lantana, so common by roadsides, and always covered with orange and yellow
blossom, are favourite situations for the domestic economy of this minute bird. The smooth twigs of the
bamboo also are not unfrequently chosen. It is not an uncommon thing in Jamaica for a road up a mou.
tain to be cut in zigzag terraces to diminish the steepness ; and to prevent the lower side of such a road
from crumbling away, stems of green bamboo are cut and laid in a shallow trench along the edge. Shoots
spring from every joint, and soon a close row of palisades are growing along the margin of the road, the
roots of which, as they spread, effectually bind together the mountain-side, and make the terrace perpetual ;
while, as they increase in height and thickness, they throw their gracefully waving tufts over the way, like
gigantic ostrich plumes, affording a most refreshing screen from the heat. Such a bamboo-walk, as it is
called, winds up the side of Grand Vale Mountain in St. Elizabeth’s, and here the nests of the Vervain
Humming-Bird are frequently met with. Being up this road, on a day in June, I found two nests attached
to twigs of bamboo, and one just commenced. Two parallel twigs were connected together by spiders’
webs, profusely but irregularly stretched across, and these held a layer of silk-cotton, which just filled up
the space, about an inch square, between them. The others were complete cups of silk cotton exceedingly
compact and neat, ornamented outside with bits of grey lichen stuck here and there. In neither of the
other Jamaican species is the oscillation of the wings so rapid or so great in extent; and hence with this
bird alone does the sound produced by the vibration of the wings acquire the sharpness of an insect’s hum.
The noise produced by the hovering of a Polytmus is a whirring sound, exactly like that caused by a wheel
put into rapid revolution by machinery ; that of humilis is a hum, like that of a large bee.

“The spirit of curiosity is manifested by this little bird as well as by the larger species. When struck
at it will return in a moment, and peep into the net or hover just in one’s face. The stories told of
Humming-Birds attacking men, and striking at the eyes with their needle-like bills, originated, I have no
doubt, in the exaggeration of fear misinterpreting this innocent curiosity.”

M. Lesson remarks, that this species is certainly the smallest member of the family with which we are
acquainted, and is without doubt the « very little Humming-Bird” of travellers; that it is a native of St.
Domingo, where it sometimes places its nest upon the branches, at others in the fork of a branch; the
exterior is covered with lichens, while the inte

rior 1s woven of the cotton of the Bomba cieba; occasionally

the filaments are interlaced among long spines, which eaves tothe delacate nest a solidity and firmness n0t
i. sas CA © © ryy a . ‘ ; - a é : ;
otherwise attainable. The incubation of its two eggs occupies twelve days; the young emerge on the

thirteenth, and remain in the nest for seventeen or eighteen days. The tree which the bird mostly
frequents is the Cytisus cajau, Linn.

r . : . |
The male has the head, upper surface of the body, wing-coverts, upper tail-coverts and flanks ane

shining green; wings purplish brown ; tail deep black ; chin and throat white speckled with black ; breast
white ; abdomen whitish, each feather tipped with
tipped with green ; irides, bill and feet black.

In the female the green of the upper
tail-feathers; the whole of the und
with white.

green; vent white; under tail-coverts white, faintly
surface is of yellower tint, and extends halfway down the central
€r surface is pure white, and the lateral tail-feathers are largely tipped

The Plate represents a male

a female, ; eae :
- ale, and a nest with two eges, all of the natural size.

FI) CIN Oe