Jewelled Cloud

The 'Jewelled Cloud' is the common name for a flock of tiny hummingbirds, each no larger than a man's thumb. Their plumage is brilliantly iridescent and reflects sunlight in flashing multi-coloured glitters of green, purple and blue. The entire flock swoops and darts as one, like a shoal of fish.

The hummingbirds nest in rocks around the edges of the desert, and usually feed on the blossoms of desert flowers around oases and springs, and various insects. What makes desert-dwellers wary of the sight of glitters in the air, however, is the adaptation of the Jewelled Cloud. The hummingbirds have razor-sharp beaks, and have learned to supplement their food with blood from mammals. Each hummingbird will dart in, stab its beak into the prey and fill it with blood and a little meat, then dart away again. Each individual stab is minor, but an attacking Jewelled Cloud of hummingbirds can drain a camel dry - or flense a man to the bone - in mere moments.