History of the humming-birds E-Book

Alfred Russel Wallace

• Herausgeber: EHS
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 86

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

The discovery of America opened up to the civilized world many new objects of interest in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. Not the least in interest was the discovery of an extensive group of birds, consisting of several hundred species, whose diminutive size, quickness of motion, boldness of demeanor, elegance of form, and exquisite beauty of plumage, attracted the attention and secured the admiration of every lover of Nature.
The larger portion of these birds live in the West Indies and the tropical regions of America…
Humming-birds are, in many respects, unusually interesting and instructive. They are highly peculiar in form, in structure, and in habits, and are quite unrivalled as regards variety and beauty. Though the name is familiar to everyone, few but naturalists are acquainted with the many curious facts in their history, or know how much material they afford for admiration and study. It is proposed, therefore, to give a brief and popular account of the form, structure, habits, distribution, and affinities, of this remarkable family of birds, as illustrative of the teeming luxuriance of tropical nature, and as throwing light on some of the most interesting problems of natural history.

À PROPOS DE L'AUTEUR 

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) was a British naturalist and explorer, co-discoverer of the theory of evolution by natural selection alongside Charles Darwin. He explored the Amazon and the Malay Archipelago, where he identified the Wallace Line, separating Asian and Australian fauna. A pioneer of biogeography, he also studied warning coloration and the Wallace Effect. A radical thinker, he defended spiritualism and criticized social injustice. Honored with several medals, he left a lasting impact on science.

Leseprobe

History of the Humming-Birds

History of the Humming-Birds

Their Habits, Relations and Affinities

Part I

Humming-Birds{1}

The discovery of America opened up to the civilized world many new objects of interest in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. Not the least in interest was the discovery of an extensive group of birds, consisting of several hundred species, whose diminutive size, quickness of motion, boldness of demeanor, elegance of form, and exquisite beauty of plumage, attracted the attention and secured the admiration of every lover of Nature.

The larger portion of these birds live in the West Indies and the tropical regions of America. Some occupy only a small island or district; others, a narrow belt on the side of a mountain: most do not extend their limits beyond a few degrees of latitude, while a few are migratory, and spend the summer in the temperate zone, but return to the tropical regions for the winter. Their food consists of honey and insects; and, consequently, they must live where flowers grow and insects abound. The Indians gave to these interesting little creatures fanciful names that expressed the idea of sunbeams, sun-angels, sun-gems, tresses of the day-star, murmuring-birds, and the like. And naturalists have given to them names equally fanciful, expressing the same or similar ideas, such as brilliant birds, light-bearers, sun-seekers, flower-kissers, honey-suckers, living meteors, and many others of similar meaning. They derive their common name from the buzzing or humming sound which they make with their wings. These vibrate so quickly as to be visible only as a semicircular film on each side of the body. The sound made by different species varies with the velocity of their wings. That made by the vervain humming-bird resembles the sound of a large bee; while that made by the polytmus resembles the sound of a swiftly-revolving wheel.

One of the peculiarities which first strikes a stranger, upon seeing one of these brilliant breathing gems, is the immense power of wing, shown by the quickness of his flight, also by the ease with which he balances himself in the air, whether, foraging unmolested, he is feeding at the flowers, or, attracted by curiosity, he is surveying one's person. He comes so suddenly as to give no warning to the eye; we hear a buzz, see the bird near us stationary, his form distinct, and when he leaves, so quick and sudden is his flight, that the eye can scarcely trace his pathway. The muscles of his wings are more powerful and active, in proportion to his size, than those of any other bird, and the wings are very long and sharp. For this reason he can easily hover, apparently motionless, for any length of time, before a flower whose honey he wishes to obtain. He thus sips the nectar of one flower after another for hours in succession, without showing any signs of weariness, or disturbing in the least the most delicate blossom.

FIG. 1.

RUBY-THROATED HUMMING-BIRD (Trochilus colubris), common in the Unites States.

If any one wishes to observe these birds and their habits, let him, on a fine, pleasant morning, visit a cluster of gooseberry bushes when in bloom, of whose honey they are exceedingly fond, and he will probably find one or more of them quietly searching the flowers for food. If disturbed, he will frequently rise to a considerable height in an oblique direction, then dart down, almost with the velocity of a bullet, past the place of annoyance, and rise on the opposite side to an equal height; then return by reversing his course, and so repeat these sweeping movements, till he sufficiently expresses his disapprobation, drives away his adversary, or retires in disgust.

If two birds foraging come together, they usually fight; one drives the other away, and then goes on feeding as if nothing had happened. Mr. Gosse says: "If two vervain humming-birds are about the moringa-tree, one will fly off and suspend himself in the air a few yards distant, the other presently shoots off" to him; and then, without touching each other, they mount upward with strong, rushing wings, perhaps for 500 feet. They then separate, and each shoots diagonally toward the ground, like a ball from a rifle, and, wheeling round, comes up to the blossoms again, and sucks, as if it had not moved away at all. The figure of the smaller humming-birds on the wing, their rapidity, their arrowy course, and their whole manner of flight, are entirely those of an insect: and one, who has watched the flight of a large beetle, or bee, will have a very good idea of one of these tropic gems, painted against the sky." Again he says: "I once witnessed a combat between two mango humming-birds, which was prosecuted with much pertinacity, and protracted to an unusual length. They chased each other through the labyrinth of twigs and flowers till, an opportunity occurring, the one would dart with fury upon the other, and then, with a loud rustling of their wings, they would twirl together round and round, until they nearly came to earth. At length an encounter took place pretty close to me, and I perceived that the beak of the one grasped the beak of the other, and, thus fastened, both whirled round and round in their perpendicular descent, till, when very near the ground, they separated; and the one chased the other for about a hundred yards, and then returned in triumph to the tree.

FIG. 2.

MANGO HUMMING-BIRD (Lampornis mango).—1. Male; 2. Female.

Sometimes they would suspend hostilities to suck a few blossoms, but mutual proximity was sure to bring them on again, with the same result. In their tortuous and rapid evolutions, the light from their ruby necks would now and then flash in the sun with gem-like radiance. The war lasted fully an hour, and then I was called away from the post of observation."

When these birds have nests, they defend them with great energy. They will attack and drive away any bird, however large, that disturbs them, or encroaches upon their territories. Wood says: "It has even been seen to attack the royal eagle itself, and to perch itself upon the head of its gigantic enemy, pecking away with hearty good-will, and scattering the eagle's feathers in a stream, as the affrighted bird dashed screaming through the air, vainly attempting to rid itself of its puny foe." If a person comes near their nest, they will frequently hover very near, and scrutinize him with great deliberation and coolness. We learn from Humboldt, that, "according to the religious belief of the Mexicans, Torgamiqui, the spouse of the god of war, conducted the souls of those warriors who had died in the defense of the gods into the mansions of the sun, and there transformed them into humming-birds—an idea exquisitely spiritual, but perhaps only to be appreciated by those who have seen these birds gleaming like meteors, or shooting-stars, in their native regions."

All these birds are very small. The vervain humming-bird, of Jamaica, is one of the minutest of those at present known. Its body is less than an inch and a half long; its tail, less than an inch; and its total length less than three inches. Most are a little larger, and have longer tails. The largest bird in the family is the gigantic humming-bird of Chili, well proportioned, and nearly eight inches in length.

More than three hundred different species of humming-birds, or Trochilidæ, as the family is called, have been minutely described, and specimens carefully prepared and preserved. Many more species are supposed to exist in Mexico, and in the wilds of Central and South America. The family is divided, by Wood, into twenty-eight genera. While the earlier writers made a less number of divisions, some of the later European naturalists have made a much greater number: in one instance, no less than seventy-six genera and sub-genera. The extent of the family will be apparent when we consider that "the total number of the birds of Europe, of every order or group, amounts to no more than 503 species," while there are probably between 400 and 500 species of humming-birds that are included in this one family. 

Their bills are all very slender and sharp. Most of them are long; some are straight; many are curved downward; and a few are curved upward. They all appear to be adapted to the kind of flowers from which the birds obtain their food. Their tongue is a slender sucking-tube, and capable of being thrust out a long distance. It appears as though composed of two minute muscular tubes, lined within by two partial tubes of a substance resembling parchment, laid side by side, and joined together for about half of their length, but separate toward the tip, near which each partial tube becomes less curved, and apparently widened, then tapers to a point, the upper edge being irregularly notched or slit, the barbs pointing backward. The tongue is constantly moistened by a glutinous saliva, by means of which it is enabled to seize and hold insects. Says Martin: "It is by a pumping or sucking action, as we have every reason to believe, that nectar or fluids are absorbed by the tubular tongue of these birds. In no other vertebrate animals, as far as we know, is the tongue constructed as a tubular sucking-pump: so far, the humming-birds stand alone; and this circumstance in itself, considering it with reference to organic structure, might be adduced as a reason for regarding these birds as a distinct order."

Mr. Thomas Belt, author of "The Naturalist in Nicaragua," indicates another function performed by the curious cleft tongue of the humming-bird, viz., the capture of insects. As we have seen, this organ is, for one-half its length, made up of a substance like rather stiff parchment, or horn, and split in two. When at rest, the two halves are laid flat against each other, but they can be separated at the will of the bird, and form a pair of forceps, admirably adapted for picking out minute insects from among the stamens of flowers.

FIG. 3.

TONGUEOF HUMMING-BIRD, WITH BLADESALITTLEOPENED.