. The royal natural history. attached alternately oneither side to a pendent stalk. Each flower resembles an inverted Roman helmet,and is attached, as it were, by the point of the crest to the stalk. It is a fleshymass of a deep crimson colour, and the cavity of the calyx extends in a tortuousmanner downwards towards the attachment of the flower to the stalk. The members of the genus Phaethornis are dull-plumaged birds,TI16 Hermits j. of a fair size generally, and remarkable for their wedge-shaped tails, the feathers of which are mostly tipped with white or buft. The bill is long and cur
. The royal natural history. attached alternately oneither side to a pendent stalk. Each flower resembles an inverted Roman helmet,and is attached, as it were, by the point of the crest to the stalk. It is a fleshymass of a deep crimson colour, and the cavity of the calyx extends in a tortuousmanner downwards towards the attachment of the flower to the stalk. The members of the genus Phaethornis are dull-plumaged birds,TI16 Hermits j. of a fair size generally, and remarkable for their wedge-shaped tails, the feathers of which are mostly tipped with white or buft. The bill is long and curved, but not to the same extent as in the last genus. Sixteen species of hermits are known, ranging from Mexico, throughout Central America to Southern Brazil and Bolivia. The nest is an elongated structure, placed at the extremity of one side of long-pointed leaves, as if for protection from the attacks of monkeys and other anin^ials. The hermits are plentifully represented in Brazil, where they HUMMING-BIRDS. 29. inhabit the gloomy forests, feeding chiefly on insects, instead of courting the sun-shine and sucking the honey from flowers. Mr. Stolzmann states that in Peru thegrey-throated hermit (P. griseigidaris), instead of inhabiting the hot and moistforests, lilce the other species of the genus, frequents dry and arid valleys, whereit seeks the densest thickets and sometimes banana-plantations. While this observerwas passing near some thick bushes, he was once arrested by the sound of a veryshrill note, repeated at intervals, which struck him at first as the utterance of atanager, and he searched in vainto find the bird. Baflled, he atlast lay down at the bottom ofthe thicket, and after someminutes discovered a tiny birdperched on a branch quite closeto the ground. Here was themeeting-place of the hermits,and the observer at length foundfour or five of these birds seatedat a short distance from eachother, at intervals uttering theirwhistle, while sometimes onewould take a s
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