OCR Text |
Show 1874.] MR. WHITELY ON PERUVIAN HUMMING-BIRDS. 675 4. Further Notes on Humming-birds collected in High Peru*. By H. WHITELY, C.M.Z.S. [Received November 13, 1874.] LESBIA NUNA. This bird makes its appearance in this district of Peru about the beginning of September, and stays some months. It is very rapid in flight, and has a most beautiful appearance with the long tail-feathers streaming out behind. If by chance two males meet, they fight with great fury, rising higher and higher almost vertically till lost to sight. Whilst the male is hovering over a flower, its tail is never spread out; but when wounded, it skiins along the ground with the tail-feathers stretched out to the greatest extent. It is a curious sight to see one of these birds trying to pass from one spot to another a long distance off in a straight line against a strong wind, which, acting on the long tail-feathers, takes it a long way off from the place it was trying to reach. Whilst perched, the two long tail-feathers are a little separated. Very small insects seem to be the principal food of this species, as I a m convinced insects are of all other species and genera of Humming-birds ; and the nectar of flowers is only partaken of to assist digestion. W h y has no Humming-bird been able to live in England, where the cold does not exceed that of the sierras out here at an elevation of 14,000 feet? Again, all other birds, as far as m y observation goes, take grit to help in the digestion of their food ; but the Humming-bird does not; therefore it must take some equivalent. It is true Humming.birds may be kept for months on sugar and water or honey and water ; but after that they commence to droop and die off, evidently from the too stimulating nature of the food. ACESTRURA MULSANTI. This bird is found in the virgin forest on the eastern slopes of the Andes, at an elevation of between 8000 and 9000 feet. It perches generally on the topmost branches of a dead tree of great size, so that to the observer at the foot of the tree it appears to be about the size of a bee. All of a sudden it flies off, and commences to circle round and round, the same as a humble-bee; the circles become gradually larger and larger, till all at once it darts off like a flash of lightning in the direction of the bunches of flowers growing on the large creepers, where it remains hovering for a few seconds, returning afterwards to its perch on the dead tree. Its food must principally consist of very minute insects caught in the air: and by this reason one m a y account for its remarkably formed tail; for if the two outer tail-feathers were long and broad it would be impossible for tbe bird to make circles almost on its own axis, especially during a strong wind. * See P. Z. S. 1873, pp. 187 & 784. |