. A dictionary of birds . now, at an elevation of some16,000 feet, dwelling in a world of almost constant hail, sleet andrain, and feeding on the insects which resort to the indigenousflowering plants, Avhile other peaks, only inferior to these in height,are no less frequented by one or more species. Peru and Bolivia])roduce some of the most splendid of the Family—the genera ^ Commonly but in error written Selasphorus. HUMMING-BIRD 449 Cometes, Diphlogsena and Thaumastura, whose very names indicatethe glories of their bearers. The comparatively gigantic Fatagonainhabits the west coast of South
. A dictionary of birds . now, at an elevation of some16,000 feet, dwelling in a world of almost constant hail, sleet andrain, and feeding on the insects which resort to the indigenousflowering plants, Avhile other peaks, only inferior to these in height,are no less frequented by one or more species. Peru and Bolivia])roduce some of the most splendid of the Family—the genera ^ Commonly but in error written Selasphorus. HUMMING-BIRD 449 Cometes, Diphlogsena and Thaumastura, whose very names indicatethe glories of their bearers. The comparatively gigantic Fatagonainhabits the west coast of South America, while the isolated rocksof Juan Fernandez not only afford a home to the Eustephanus beforementioned, but also to two other species of the same genus whichare not found elsewhere. The slopes of the Northern Andes andthe hill country of Colombia furnish perhaps the greatest number offorms, and some of the most beautiful, but leaving that great range,we jmrt company with the largest and most gorgeously arrayed X^. Phaethoenis eurynome, and sest. (After Gould.) species, and their number dwindles as we approach the easterncoast. Still there are many brilliant Humming-birds commonenough in the Brazils, Guiana and Venezuela. The Chrysolampis■mosquitus is perhaps the most plentiful. Thousands of its skins areannually sent to Europe to be used in the manufacture of ornaments,its rich ruby-and-topaz glow rendering it one of the most beautifulobjects imaginable. In the darkest depths of the Brazilian forestsdwell the russet-clothed brotherhood of the genus Phaethornis—the Hermits ; but the great wooded basin of the Amazons seems tobe particularly unfavourable to the Trochilidx, and from Para toEga there are scarcely a dozen species to be met with. There is 29 450 HUMMING-BIRD no island of the Antilles but is inhabited by one or more Humming-birds, and there are some very remarkable singularities of geo-graphical distribution to be found. Northwards from Panama, thehighland
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Keywords: ., bookauthorlyde, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds
