History of the humming-birds E-Book

Alfred Russel Wallace

• Herausgeber: EHS
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

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.