Page:Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - Volume 1.pdf/235

or humble rock-blossom, no flower had ventured to open its petals, except the brilliant pink Ribes, or flowering currant, common in every English cottage garden.

Approaching a large cluster of these gay-looking bushes, my ears were greeted with the sharp thrum—a sound I knew well—from the wings of a humming-bird, as it darted past me. The name by which these birds are commonly known has arisen from the noise produced by the wings (much like to the sound of a driving-belt used in machinery, although of course not nearly so loud)—whilst the little creature, poised over a flower, darts its slender beak deep amidst the corolla, not to sip nectar, in my humble opinion, but to capture drowsy insect revellers, that assemble in these attractive drinking-shops, and grow tipsy on the sweets gratuitously provided for them. Soon a second whizzed by me, and others followed in rapid succession, and, when near enough to see distinctly, the bushes seemed literally to gleam with the flashing colours of swarms (I know no better word) of humming-birds surrounding the entire clump of Ribes.

Seating myself on a log, I watched this busy assemblage for some time. They were all male birds, and two species were plainly discernible. Chasing each other in sheer sport, with a rapidity of flight and intricacy of evolution impossible for the eye to follow, through the bushes, over the water, everywhere, they darted about like meteors; often meeting in mid-air, a furious battle would ensue, their tiny crests and throat-plumes erect and blazing, they were altogether pictures of the most violent passions. Then one would perch himself on a dead spray, and leisurely smooth his ruffled feathers, to be suddenly rushed at and assaulted by some quarrelsome comrade. Feeding, fighting, and frolicking seemed to occupy their entire time.

I dare say hard epithets will be heaped upon me,—cruel man, hard-hearted savage, miserable destroyer, and such like,—when I confess to sitting and shooting numbers of these burnished beauties. Some of them are at this moment before me as I write; but what miserable things are these stuffed remains, as compared to the living bird! The brilliant crests are rigid and immovable, the throat feathers, that open and shut with a flash like coloured light, lose in the stillness of death all those charms so beautiful in life: the tail clumsily spread, or bent similar to the abdomen of a wasp about to sting, no more resembles the same organ in the live bird than a fan of peacock's feathers is like to the expanded tail of that bird when strutting proudly in the sun.

It is useless pleading excuses; two long days were occupied in shooting and skinning. The two species obtained on this occasion were the Red-backed Humming-bird (Selasphorus rufus), often described as the Nootka Humming-bird, because it was first discovered in Nootka Sound, on the west side of Vancouver Island. The other, one of the smallest known species, called Calliope. This exquisite little bird is mainly conspicuous for its frill of minute pinnated feathers encircling the throat, of most delicate magenta tint, which can be raised or depressed at will. Prior to my finding it in this remote region, it was described as being confined entirely to Mexico. About a week had passed away; the bridge was completed, during which time the female birds bad arrived; and save a stray one now and then, not a single individual of that numerous host that gathered round the Ribes was to be seen. They cared nothing for the gun, and would even dash at a dead companion as it lay on the grass; so I did not drive them away; they scattered of their own free will.

My next camping-place was on the west slope of the Rocky Mountains, near a lake, round which grew some cotton-wood trees (Salix scouleriana), together with alder (Alnus oregona), and the sweet or black birch (Betula lenta). My attention was called to the latter tree by observing numbers of wasps, bees, and hornets swarming round its trunk. The secret was soon disclosed; a sweet gummy sap was exuding plentifully from splits in the bark, on which hosts of insects, large and small, were regaling themselves. As the sap ran down over the bark, it became very sticky, and numbers of small winged insects pitching on it, were trapped in a natural "catch-'em-alive-o." Busily occupied in picking off these captives were several very sombre-looking humming-birds. They poised themselves just as the others did over the flowers, and deftly nipped, as with delicate forceps, the helpless insects, I soon bagged one, and found I had a third species, the Black-throated Humming-bird (Trochilus Alexandri). Were any proof needed to establish the fact of hummingbirds being insect-feeders, this should be sufficient. I saw the bird, not only on this occasion but dozens of times afterwards, pick the insects from off the tree, often killed it in the act, and found the stomach, on being opened, filled with various species of winged insects.

The habits of these three species differ widely. The Red-backed Humming-bird loves to flit over the open prairies, stopping at every tempting flower, to catch some idler lurking in its nectar-cells; building its nest generally in a low shrub, close to the rippling stream, finds pleasant music in its ceaseless splash.