lining them with silk-cotton. In this delicate
cradle, suspended from a branch, the female lays two eggs, which are
hatched in about twelve days. The eggs are invariably white, with one
exception, those of a species on the Upper Amazon, which are spotted.
The young have much shorter bills than their parents. The humming-bird
is exclusively American: the nearest form in the Old World is the
nectarinia, or sunbird. Other birds most commonly seen in the valley
are: _Cyanocitta turcosa_ (Jay), _Poecilothraupis atrierissa_,
_Pheuticus chrysogaster_, _Chlorospingus superciliaris_, _Buthraupis
chloronata_, _Tanagra Darwini_, _Dubusia selysia_, _Buarremon
latinuchus_, and _B. assimilis_. The only geese in the valley are a few
imported from Europe by Senor Aguirre, of Chillo, and these refuse to
propagate.

Reptiles are so rare in the highlands the class can hardly be said to be
represented. During a residence of nearly three months in the Quito
Valley we saw but one snake.[45] Nevertheless, we find the following
sentence in such a respectable book as Bohn's Hand-book of Modern
Geography: "The inhabitants of Quito are dreadfully tormented by
reptiles, which it is scarcely possible to keep out of the beds!" Of
frogs there are not enough to get up a choir, and of fishes there is
but one solitary species, about a finger long.[46] The entomology of
Quito is also brief, much to the satisfaction of travelers from the
insectiferous coast. Musquitoes and bedbugs do not seem to enjoy life at
such an altitude, and jiggers[47] and flies are rare. Fleas, however,
have the hardihood to exist and bite in the summer months, and if you
attend an Indian fair you will be likely to feel something "gently o'er
you creeping." But fleas and lice are the only blood-thirsty animals, so
that the great Valley of Quito is an almost painless paradise. Of
beetles and butterflies there are a few species, the latter belonging
for the most part to the familiar North American genera _Pyrameis_ and
_Colias_. At Vinces, on the coast, we found the pretty brown butterfly,
_Anartia Jatrophae_, which ranges from Texas to Brazil. A light-colored
coleopter is eaten roasted by the inhabitants. The cochineal is raised
in the southern part of the valley, particularly in Guananda, at the
foot of Tunguragua, where the small, flat-leaved cactus (_Opuntia
tuna_), on which, the insect feeds, is extensively cultivated. The male
is winged, but the female is stationary, fixed to