John A. Burton

For many years John Burton was the Information Officer at the British Museum (Natural History).

Of all the habitats throughout the world, tropical rain forest is the richest both in quantity and variety of life. Birds of the Tropics, 1973.

The Neotropical region&endash;Central and South America&endash;is a rich and varied one. Over 2,5000 bird species&endash;well over a quarter of the world's total&endash;are found here. Ibid.

Hummingbirds are the only birds which can really fly backwards: they hover in front of orchids and other flowers of the forest, feeding on nectar and insects, then when they have finished they back away before darting off in search of more food. Ibid.

. . . the hummingbird's wing. . . beats at speeds of anything between 30 and 50 times each second. Ibid.

Or rather the wing is revolving, because this is the real secret of the hummingbird's extraordinary maneuverability; as the wings beat they are rotated in a figure-of-eight shape and, by altering the angle of the wings the "hummer" can perform these seemingly impossible feats of aviation. Ibid.

With every movement the bird makes, the feathers shimmer and glitter: greens, blues, golds, reds, violets, purples, glowing as if lit from within the bird. Ibid.

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