iqo2] Saunders Canadian Hummingbirds. 97 



CANADIAN HUMMINGBIRDS. 



By W. E. Saunders. 



(Read before the Ornitholo^cal Section of thej^Entomolog^ical Society of 



Ontario.) 



Hummingbirds belong to the order Macrochires, which in- 

 cludes, so far as Canadi is concerned, only the Goatsuckers, Swifts 

 and Hummers. Of these families the first two are separated from 

 the third by the presence of more than 6 secondaries, a short broad 

 bill with deeply cleft gape, and the absence of metallic-coloured 

 pluiTiage The principal characters of the Hummingbird family 

 are : secondaries 6, a slender, often attenuated bill, gape not 

 deeply cleft, colours of the plumage more or less metallic. 



The family embraces many genera and about 400 species, en- 

 tirely confined to America, and most of this large number are resi- 

 dents of the South only. 



Among the many species in the tropics there are, as one might 

 suppose, many curious forms. Some of them have very long tail 

 feathers, while one at least has the bill longer than all the remain- 

 der of the body, a character not known elsewhere among birds. 

 The colours exhibit all of the most brilliant tints, and often the 

 most striking contrasts : one bird, mostly metallic green, having 

 pure white tail feathers and coverts. The tongue is protrusive, as is 

 that of the Woodpeckers, and is composed of two tubes for obtain- 

 ing honey from the nectaries at the base of a flower. 



The breast bone is very large, with an enormous keel to accom- 

 modate the immensely developed muscles which are required to 

 move the wings at the great speed usual with these birds. The 

 reason for this extremely quick wingbeat is that the upper arm 

 bone is very short, and it is a fact that birds which have this bone 

 very short must use quick wingbeats, while a long one produces a 

 slower beat or a sailing flight. Thus the Grouse and Quail have a 

 short upper arm, and the Gulls and Buzzards a long one. 



All the Hummers ranging into Canada were formerly in- 

 cluded in the genus Trochtlns, but in more recent years the species 

 therein contained have been mostly placed in other genera, whose 



