HUMMING-BIRDS. 129 



The bill differs greatly in length and shape, being 

 either straight or gently curved, in some species bent 

 like a sickle, in others turned up like the bill of the 

 avoset. It is usually long and slender, but in one group 

 is so enormously developed that it is nearly the same 

 length as the rest of the bird. The legs, usually little 

 seen, are in some groups adorned with globular tufts 

 of white, brown, or black down, a peculiarity possessed 

 by no other birds. The reader will now be in a position 

 to understand how the four hundred species of humming- 

 birds may be easily distinguished, by the varied combi- 

 nations of the characters here briefly enumerated, 

 together with many others of less importance. One 

 group of birds will have a short round tail, with crest 

 and long neck-frill ; another group a deeply -forked broad 

 tail, combined with glowing crown and gorget ; one is 

 both bearded and crested ; others have a luminous back 

 and pendent neck-plumes ; and in each of these groups 

 the species will vary in combinations of colour, in size, 

 and in the proportions of the ornamental plumes, so as 

 to produce an unmistakable distinctness ; while, without 

 any new developments of form or structure, there is 

 room for the discovery of hundreds more of distinct 

 kinds of humming-birds. 



Descriptive Names. The name we usually give to the 

 birds of this family is derived from the sound of their 

 rapidly-moving wings, a sound which is produced by the 

 largest as well as by the smallest member of the group. 

 The Creoles of Guiana similarly call them Bourdons or 

 hummers. The French term, Oiseau-mouche, refers to 

 their small size ; while Colibri is a native name which 

 has come down from the Carib inhabitants of the West 



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