PICA HI Ji: HUMMING-BIRDS, ETC. 



169 



FIG. 198. 



liemce its name. During the day the Whippoorwill sleeps 



upon the ground, or on fallen 



trunks of trees, or on low 



branches, and may often be 



approached to within a few 



feet before it flies. It is said 



that it always sits with its body 



parallel to the branch on which 



it alights, and never across 



it. The same is regarded as 



true of the Night-hawk. 



Tbe Humming-birds or Tro- 

 chilidae are birds of the smallest 

 size and of the most gorgeous 

 plumage to be found in the 

 feathered race. We might as 

 well attempt to describe the 

 rainbow as the hues of em- 

 erald, and ruby, and amethyst, and topaz, and bur- 

 nished gold which flash from these beautiful forms of 

 life, as they glance among the foliage, or dart from flower 

 to flower seeking their accustomed food. They belong 

 exclusively to the continent and islands of America, and 



Night-Hawk, Chordeiles popetue, 

 Baird. 



FIG. 199. 



FIG. 200. 



Humming-bird, 

 Trashilus colubris, Linn. 



Humming-bird's nest, 

 T. colubris, Linn. 



are the most numerous in the hot regions. Some species 

 range north to the Arctic regions, and south to Patagonia, 

 8 



