THE TWELFTH FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS.—THE HUMMING BIRDS (Trochilidæ).
These exquisite little creatures are perhaps the largest family of birds known, numbering, at the present day, nearly five hundred species. It is simply impossible in a work like the present to domore than allude to a family, the full description of which by Mr. Gould has occupied five large folio volumes. An immense variety of form and colour is presented to us. All the birds are of small size, some of them being no larger than Hawk-moths, to which in their manner of flight they bear considerable resemblance.
SWORD-BILL HUMMING BIRD.
SWORD-BILL HUMMING BIRD.
In some countries Humming-birds are tolerably common, but some species are of extreme rarity, such, for instance, as theLoddigesia mirabilis, which was discovered forty years ago, and still remains represented by a single specimen in the collection of the late Mr. George Loddiges, and of which a reward of fifty pounds, offered by Mr. Gould, has not succeeded in obtaining a second example. As a rule, Humming-birds are a Neotropical family, that is to say, the vast majority of the species occur in South America, and do not wander above the line of Northern Mexico; but a few species are found in the Southern United States, while one occurs in summer even in North America, ranging as far as, and even breeding in, Canada. Professor Newton writes:—“Wilson, Audubon, Mr. Gosse, and several others gifted with the ‘pen of a ready writer,’ have so fully described, as far as words will admit, the habits of different members of the familyTrochilidæ, that it is unnecessary to say much on this score. Their appearance is so entirely unlike that of any other birds that it is hopeless to attemptin any way to bring a just conception of it to the ideas of those who have not crossed the Atlantic; and even the comparison so often made between them and theSphingidæ, though doubtless in the main true, is much to the advantage of the latter. One is admiring the clustering stars of a scarletCordia, the snowy cornucopias of aPortlandia, or some other brilliant and beautiful flower, when between the blossoms and one’s eye suddenly appears a small dark object, suspended as it were between four short black threads meeting each other in a cross. For an instant it shows in front of the flower; an instant more it steadies itself, and one perceives the space between each pair of threads occupied by a grey film; again another instant, and, emitting a momentary flash of emerald and sapphire light, it is vanishing, lessening in the distance as it shoots away, to a speck that the eye cannot take note of—and all this so rapidly that the word on one’s lips is still unspoken, scarcely the thought in one’s mind changed. It was a bold man or an ignorant one who first ventured to depict Humming birds flying; but it cannot be denied that representations of them are often of special use to the ornithologist. The peculiar action of one, and probably of many or all other species of the family, is such, that at times in flying it makes the wings almost meet, both in front and behind, at each vibration. Thus, when a bird chances to enter a room it will generally go buzzing along the cornice. Standing beneath where it is, one will find that the axis of the body is vertical, and each wing is describing a nearly perfect semicircle. As might be expected, the pectoral muscles are very large; indeed, the sternum of this bird is a good deal bigger than that of the common Chimney Swallow (Hirundo rustica). But the extraordinary rapidity with which the vibrations are effected seems to be chiefly caused by these powerful muscles acting on the very short wingbones, which are not half the length of the same parts in the Swallow; and accordingly, great as this alar action is, and in spite of the contrary opinion entertained by Mr. Gosse, it is yet sometimes wanting in power, owing, doubtless, to the disadvantageous leverage thus obtained; and the old authors must be credited who speak of cobwebs catching Humming birds. On the 3rd of May, 1857, a bird of this species flew into the room where I was sitting, and after fluttering for some minutes against the ceiling, came in contact with a deserted spider’s web, in which it got entangled, and remained suspended and perfectly helpless for more than a minute, when by a violent effort it freed itself. I soon after caught it, still having fragments of the web on its head, neck, and wings; and I feel pretty sure, that had this web been inhabited and in good repair, instead of being deserted and dilapidated, the bird would never have escaped.”
WHITE-BOOTED RACKET TAIL.
WHITE-BOOTED RACKET TAIL.
COMMON TOPAZ HUMMING BIRD.
COMMON TOPAZ HUMMING BIRD.
Mr. A. R. Wallace has written the following account of the habits of Humming birds on the River Amazon:—“The greater number of species that frequent flowers do so, I am convinced, forthe small insects found there, and not for the nectar. In dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of common flower-frequenting species which I have examined, the crop, stomach, and intestines have been filled with minute beetles, ants, and spiders, which abound in most flowers in South America. Very rarely indeed have I found a trace of honey or of any liquid in the crop or stomach. The flowers they most frequent are the various species ofIngaand the papilionaceous flowers of many large forest trees. I have never seen them at the bignonias, or any flowers but those which grow in large masses, covering a whole tree or shrub, as they visit perhaps a hundred flowers in a minute and never stop at a single one. The little Emerald Hummer I have seen in gardens and at the common orange (Asclepias), which often covers large spaces of waste ground in the tropics. But there are many, such asPhaëthornis eremitaand some larger allied species, which I have never seen at flowers. These inhabit the gloomy forest-shades, where they dart about among the foliage; and I have distinctly observed them visit in rapid succession every leaf on a branch, balancing themselves vertically in the air, passing their beak closely over the under surface of each leaf, and thus capturing, no doubt, any small insects that may be upon them. While doing this, the two long feathers of the tail have a vibrating motion, apparently serving as a rudder to assist them in performing the delicate operation. I have seen others searching up and down stems and dead sticks in the same manner, every now and then picking off something, exactly as a Bush Shrike or Tree Creeper does, with this exception, that the Humming-bird is continually on the wing. They also capture insects in the true Fissirostral fashion. How often may they be seen perched on the dead twig of a lofty tree—the station that is chosen by the tyrant Flycatchers and the Jacamars—from which, like those birds, they dart off a short distance, and after a few whirls and balancings return to the identical twig they had left. In the evening, too, just after sunset, when the Goatsuckers are beginning their search after insects over therivers, I have seen Humming birds come out of the forest and remain a long time on the wing—now stationary, now darting about with the greatest rapidity, imitating in a limited space the evolutions of their companions the Goatsuckers, and evidently for the same end and purpose.”
Wilson, the poet-naturalist, observes of the North American species as follows:—“Nature in every department of her works seems to delight in variety, and the present subject is almost as singular for its minuteness, beauty, want of song, and manner of feeding, as the Mocking Bird is for unrivalled excellence of note and plainness of plumage. This is one of the few birds that are universally beloved, and amidst the sweet dewy serenity of a summer’s morning his appearance amongst the arbours of honeysuckles and beds of flowers is truly interesting.
“‘When morning dawns, and the blest sun againLifts his red glories from the Eastern main,Then through our woodbines, wet with glittering dews,The flower-fed Humming bird his round pursues;Sips with inserted tube the honied blooms,And chirps his gratitude as round he roams;While richest roses, though in crimson drest,Shrink from the splendour of his gorgeous breast,What heavenly tints in mingling radiance fly!Each rapid movement gives a different dye:Like scales of burnished gold they dazzling show,Now sink to shade, now to a furnace glow.’”
“‘When morning dawns, and the blest sun againLifts his red glories from the Eastern main,Then through our woodbines, wet with glittering dews,The flower-fed Humming bird his round pursues;Sips with inserted tube the honied blooms,And chirps his gratitude as round he roams;While richest roses, though in crimson drest,Shrink from the splendour of his gorgeous breast,What heavenly tints in mingling radiance fly!Each rapid movement gives a different dye:Like scales of burnished gold they dazzling show,Now sink to shade, now to a furnace glow.’”
“‘When morning dawns, and the blest sun againLifts his red glories from the Eastern main,Then through our woodbines, wet with glittering dews,The flower-fed Humming bird his round pursues;Sips with inserted tube the honied blooms,And chirps his gratitude as round he roams;While richest roses, though in crimson drest,Shrink from the splendour of his gorgeous breast,What heavenly tints in mingling radiance fly!Each rapid movement gives a different dye:Like scales of burnished gold they dazzling show,Now sink to shade, now to a furnace glow.’”
“‘When morning dawns, and the blest sun again
Lifts his red glories from the Eastern main,
Then through our woodbines, wet with glittering dews,
The flower-fed Humming bird his round pursues;
Sips with inserted tube the honied blooms,
And chirps his gratitude as round he roams;
While richest roses, though in crimson drest,
Shrink from the splendour of his gorgeous breast,
What heavenly tints in mingling radiance fly!
Each rapid movement gives a different dye:
Like scales of burnished gold they dazzling show,
Now sink to shade, now to a furnace glow.’”
CRESTED HUMMING BIRD.
CRESTED HUMMING BIRD.
PRINTED BYCASSELL& COMPANY, LIMITED, LABELLESAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.