The Humming-Bird Seems Particularly Fond Of
Such Shady Retired Spots.
Whenever I saw these little creatures
buzzing round a flower, with their wings vibrating so
rapidly as to be scarcely visible, I was reminded of the
sphinx moths:
Their movements and habits are indeed in
many respects very similar.
Following a pathway, I entered a noble forest, and from
a height of five or six hundred feet, one of those splendid
views was presented, which are so common on every side
of Rio. At this elevation the landscape attains its most
brilliant tint; and every form, every shade, so completely
surpasses in magnificence all that the European has ever
beheld in his own country, that he knows not how to express
his feelings. The general effect frequently recalled
to my mind the gayest scenery of the Opera-house or the
great theatres. I never returned from these excursions
empty-handed. This day I found a specimen of a curious
fungus, called Hymenophallus. Most people know the English
Phallus, which in autumn taints the air with its odious
smell: this, however, as the entomologist is aware, is, to
some of our beetles a delightful fragrance. So was it here;
for a Strongylus, attracted by the odour, alighted on the
fungus as I carried it in my hand. We here see in two distant
countries a similar relation between plants and insects of the
same families, though the species of both are different. When
man is the agent in introducing into a country a new species,
this relation is often broken:
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