464 Mr. N. A. Vicors on the Natural Affinities 
accord with these views of the distinguished French naturalist. 
Besides the difference in their structure, the two groups may be 
separated by their geographical limits. The Nectariniade, as far 
as I can trace out their extent, are confined to the New World ; 
while the Cinnyride are circumscribed within the bounds of the 
ancient continent and its adjoining islands. In looking to the 
succession of affinities in the tribe, we may remark that the Nec- 
tariniade appear to hold, by the comparative strength of their 
feet and bill, an intermediate rank between the Creepers of the 
last tribe and the typical groups of the present. In the use they 
make of their feet, this is particularly observable. The Certhiade, 
as we have seen, employ their feet in climbing: the Nectariniade 
do not climb, but hop from flower to flower *, exploring the nec- 
tary of each; while the Cinnyride and Trochilide make no use 
whatever of the foot as they extract their food, but during this 
process are poised entirely on the wing. The two last-mentioned 
families again approach each other in the slenderness of their bill, 
the vividness and changeable lustre of their plumage, and the 
habit of hovering on the wing while they feed. They are chiefly 
separated by the comparatively stronger foot and bill of the Cin- 
nyride. A line of demarcation also points out the geographical 
distribution of these two families, the Trochilide being exclu- 
sively confined to America, and the Cinnyride, as I have already 
stated, to the Old World. "These two typical families are the 
only groups in the tribe of whose situation I can speak with any 
* The following are the observations of a scientific eye-witness of the manners of a 
species of the Nectariniade, the Nectarinia cyanocephala. “ Its habits are no less 
perfectly the same as the rest of the Nectarinie. It frequents the same trees as the 
Humming-birds, hopping from flower to flower, and extracting the nectar from each; 
but this is not done on the wing, because its formation is obviously different from the 
Humming-birds, which, on the contrary, poise themselves in the air during feeding." 
Swainson, Zoological Illustrations, Pl. 117. 
con- 
