208 



AVES. 



[The whole anatomy of a Humming-bird, internal as well as external, intimates a very close affinity with the 

 Swifts : the beak and tongue even of which, though so different at first sight, will be found on examination to 

 differ only in not being drawn out. The Humming-birds, however, have a complicated inferior larynx, and toes 

 with the usual number of joints: their tail-feathers, as in the Swifts, are ten in number, save in one remarkable 

 species (thence named T. ceiiicurns), wherein they are reduced to six; the body-feathers have an accessory 

 plume, &c. The beak varies exceedingly, in being more or less prolonged, straight, arched downward, or even 

 recurved, like that of an Avocet, two species exhibiting which structure are now known : those which have straight 

 beaks feed chiefly on minute insects, and have often the tip of the tongue furnished with retroflected lateral spines, 

 precisely as in the Woodpeckers ; while in the majority with curved bills, the upper mandible shuts over and 

 incloses the lower, forming a tube and admirable sucking instrument, adapted for drawing up the nectar of flowers 

 between the tongue and palate : the tail assumes every form in different species, and some have the shafts of the 

 alar quills extraordinarily thickened ; many have ornamental tufts of feathers, most variously disposed ; and in 

 short, the greatest variety of modifications are observable of the one general type, (which is not passerine,) though 

 it is difficult or even impossible to institute satisfactory subdivisions. 



Not less than a hundred and seventy species are now known, and others are constantly being discovered. All 

 are from America, and, with few exceptions, from the southern division of that continent. The smallest of them, 

 when plucked, are less than a large Bumble Bee ; and one only, that is much larger than any others as yet known, 

 (T. gigas, Auct.), nearly equals the common Swift in size : this bird is also one of the dullest-coloured, and its 

 general resemblance to the Swifts is very manifest. Many, like the Swifts, employ a secreted mucus* in the con- 

 struction of their nest, which is mostly placed on a horizontal, lichened bough ; and they lay two similar white 

 eggs, of an elongated form, that produce generally male and female.] 



Among 



The Hoopoes (Ujmpa, Lin.), 

 We first arrange 



The Choughs (Fregilus, Cuv.), — 

 Wherein the nostrils are covered by feathers directed forwards, a character which has induced some 

 authors to place them with the Crows [most unquestionably their true station], to which their habits 

 approximate. The beak is rather longer than the head, [slender, a little arcuated, singularly brittle, 

 and much resembles red coral]. 



The European or Red-legged Chough (Corvus gracnlus, Lin.).— Nearly the size of a Rook, and glossy black, with 

 red bill and legs. Inhabits the loftiest Alps and Pyrenees, and nestles in the crevices of rocks, like the Chocard, 

 than which it is less common, and also less gregarious. Fruit and insects are equally its food, and when it descends 

 into the valleys, its presence is a sure forerunner of snow and bad weather. [This bird is not rare on many parts 

 of the sea-coast of Britain, breeding in the highest cliffs, but upon none of our mountains, though occasionally on 

 lofty buildings near the sea : parties of them are not unfrequently observed on Salisbury Plain, which is consider- 

 ably inland ; and their appearance is there considered an indication of stormy weather. They have all the man- 

 ners, intelligence, thieving propensities, &c. of the Crows and Magpies, but invariably avoid walking upon turf; 

 their claws are hooked and very sharp, enabling them to cling to the face of perpendicular cliffs, while they insert 

 their lengthened slender bill into crevices, picking out minute insects, which constitute their chief food. 

 The bill and feet of the young are coloured while in the nest, but less brightly than those of the adults. Three or 

 four additional species are known, one from New Holland.] 



The Hoopoes, properly so called, (Upitpa), — 



Have a double range of long erectible feathers on the head, forming a splendid crest. 



[They possess none of the exclusive characters of the Passerina, and, upon 

 the whole, resemble most nearly the Hornbills, from which they differ, how- 

 ever, in several obvious particulars. They have a wide gape, and tongue very 

 short and heart-shaped ; the mandibles much prolonged, obtusely terminated, 

 flat, and not even grooved within ; nostrils exposed, and a little removed from 

 the base : the feet resemble those of a Lark, but are adapted for ascending steep 

 surfaces, resting on the tarsal joint : ten tail-feathers only : a membranaceous 

 stomach ; short intestines, probably devoid of coeca ; and a peculiar sternal 

 apparatus (fig. 96). Flight undulatory, like that of the Woodpeckers, which 

 they also resemble in their mode of tapping with the bill. It is altogether one 

 of the most isolated genera of Birds.] 



The European Hoopoe (U. epops, Lin.).— Of a rufous-chestnut colour, varied 

 with black and white : it searches for insects in humid ground, nestles in the 

 holes of trees or walls, and migrates southward in winter ; [is singularly re- 

 markable for its intelligence and susceptibility of attachment. There are one 

 Fig. 96.-Stermim of Hoopoe. or two others, all peculiar to the eastern hemisphere]. 



• That is to say, not analogous to the macerated fucus with which the Esculent Swallow Doilds ; the Hamming-birds, like the Woodpeckers, 

 having immense salivary glands, in which the Swifts resemble them. 



