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On the ornamented nests of humming-birds, Gould, 'Introduction to the Trochilidae, 1861, p. 19. On the bower-birds, Gould, 'Handbook to the Birds of Australia, 1865, vol. i. pp. 444-461. Having made these preliminary remarks on the discrimination and taste of birds, I will give all the facts known to me which bear on the preference shewn by the female for particular males.
On the top of the leaf a little spangled coquette was watching her eggs within. Unlike the nests of the Trochilidae, which are saucer-shaped, it was of a long, funnel-like form, broad at the top and tapering towards the lower part.
The Trochilidae, although confined to one continent, promise to exceed all other families even the cosmopolitan finches and warblers in number of species. At present over five hundred are known, or as many as all the species of birds in Europe together; and good reasons exist for believing that very many more not less perhaps than one or two hundred species yet remain to be discovered.
In an allied bird, the Penelope nigra, Mr. Salvin observed a male, which, whilst it flew downwards "with outstretched wings, gave forth a kind of crashing rushing noise," like the falling of a tree. Mr. Salvin, in 'Proceedings, Zoological Society, 1867, p. 160. Gould, 'Introduction to the Trochilidae, 1861, p. 49. Salvin that the noise was intentionally made. Sclater, in 'Proc. Zool.
The crest, which was constantly spread out, appeared very like that of a peacock's tail, though, as Ellen observed, it would be a very little peacock to have such a tail. These birds, with several others of similar habits and formation, are classed separately from the Trochilidae, and belong to the genus Phaethornis.
The addition of many new species to the long list would, however, be a matter of small interest, unless fresh facts concerning their habits and structure were at the same time brought to light; but we can scarcely expect that the as yet unknown species will supply any link connecting the Trochilidae with other existing families of birds.
Another sun-angel, the Heliangelus Clarissae, has a deep ruby crimson gorget. In New Granada is also found the curious little snow-cap humming-bird, one of the most rare of the Trochilidae. It is of a brown colour, with a coppery hue, in which, in certain lights, a purple reflection can be perceived. The crown of the head and the tip of the tail-feathers are of a dazzling white.
Salvin paid particular attention to the sexes of the humming-birds in Central America, and is convinced that with most of the species the males are in excess; thus one year he procured 204 specimens belonging to ten species, and these consisted of 166 males and of only 38 females. 'Ibis, vol. ii. p. 260, as quoted in Gould's 'Trochilidae, 1861, p. 52.
Professor Orton tells us that the valley of Quito swarms with those winged jewels of varied hue the Trochilidae. Among them is the train-bearer, which, small as it is, has a straight tail nearly six inches in length.
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