rch on the highest
trees, and, being very muscular, will not fall unless severely
wounded.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: THE UMBRELLA BIRD.]

HUMMING BIRDS

(FROM THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA.)

BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.

[Illustration]

Soon after crossing the muddy Artigua below Pavon, a beautifully clear
and sparkling brook is reached, coming down to join its pure waters
with the soiled river below. In the evening this was a favorite resort
of many birds that came to drink at the pellucid stream, or catch
insects playing above the water. Amongst the last was the beautiful
blue, green and white humming-bird; the head and neck deep
metallic-blue, bordered on the back by a pure white collar over the
shoulders, followed by deep metallic-green; on the underside the blue
neck is succeeded by green, the green from the centre of the breast to
the end of the tail by pure white; the tail can be expanded to a half
circle, and each feather widening towards the end makes the semicircle
complete around the edge. When catching the ephemeridae that play above
the water, the tail is not expanded: it is reserved for times of
courtship. I have seen the female sitting quietly on a branch, and
two males displaying their charms in front of her. One would shoot up
like a rocket, than suddenly expanding the snow-white tail like an
inverted parachute, slowly descend in front of her, turning round
gradually to show off both back and front. The effect was heightened
by the wings being invisible from a distance of a few yards, both from
their great velocity of movement and from not having the metallic
lustre of the rest of the body. The expanded white tail covered more
space than all the rest of the bird, and was evidently the grand
feature in the performance. Whilst one was descending, the other would
shoot up and come slowly down expanded. The entertainment would end in
a fight between the two performers; but whether the most beautiful or
the most pugnacious was the accepted suitor, I know not. Another fine
humming-bird seen about this brook was the long-billed, fire-throated
_Heliomaster pallidiceps_, Gould, generally seen probing long,
narrow-throated red flowers, forming, with their attractive nectar,
complete traps for the small insects on which the humming-birds feed,
the bird returning the favor by carrying the pollen of one flower to
another. A third species, also seen at this brook, _Petasophora
delphinae_, Less.,