. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. 184 THE PICHINCHIAN extremities of the loftiest branches, while the females hover near the ground. Partly owing to this j)eculiarity, and partly on account of her sober tinting, the female generally escapes observation. The plant on which the Chimborazian Hill-star is usually found is the Chuquira- qua insignis, a floweiing alpine shrub, with large pale yellow blossoms, and the bird is so closely attached to this shrub, that it is never found at any great distance from its go
. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. 184 THE PICHINCHIAN extremities of the loftiest branches, while the females hover near the ground. Partly owing to this j)eculiarity, and partly on account of her sober tinting, the female generally escapes observation. The plant on which the Chimborazian Hill-star is usually found is the Chuquira- qua insignis, a floweiing alpine shrub, with large pale yellow blossoms, and the bird is so closely attached to this shrub, that it is never found at any great distance from its golden flowers. The nest of this species is made of lichens, and is fastened to the side of a rock in some situation where it is protected by an overhanging ledge of rock. Except upon the head and throat, the Chimborazian Hill- star is not so brilliantly clothed as many of its compeers, but upon those parts the creature shines vdth rainbow lightness. The general color of the upjjer parts of the body is pale dusky olive-green, with the exception of the wings, which have the purple-brown tint usual among Humming-birds. The under parts are white, deepening into dusky-black upon the imder tail-coverts, and there is a line of black down the centre of the abdomen. The head and throat are of the brightest and most resplendent blue, with the ex- ception of an emerald-green patch in the centre of the throat. This j^atch is triangu- lar in shape, and has one of the angles pointing upwards. Round the neck runs a broad collar of deep velvety-black, abruptly dividing the brilliant hue of the head and throat from the plain black and white of the chest and abdomen, and giving the bird an appearance as if the head and throat of some brightly colored l^ird had been joined to the neclv and body of a plainly clad individual of another species. The two central feathers of the tail are nearly of the same hue as that of the back, the two exterior featliers are white for the first third of their length
Size: 1434px × 1741px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorbr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
