22S 



HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE - GO S SIP. 



tion of these flowers, pierce their bases, and with 

 the delicate feelers at the extremity of the tongue 

 readily secure the insects which there abound. In 

 no part of America are there so many tubular- 

 flowered plants as among the Andes ; and the 

 greater number of the humming-birds found 

 there have straight and lengthened bills, such as 

 the members of the genera Helianthea (fig. 12S), 

 Bourcieria, Coligeua, &c. The arched bill of the 



Fig. 129. Phtethornis anthophilus. 



Phaethornithes (fig. 129) is admirably adapted 

 for securing the insects which resort to the leaves 

 of trees, and upon which these birds are said to 

 exist. But how much are we astonished when 



Fig. 130. Euto.reres ar/uila. 



we examine the bill of Eutoxeres (fig. 130), and 

 find this organ curved downwards beyond the extent 

 of a semicircle, — a form beautifully adapted for ex- 

 ploring the scale-covered stems of the larger palms. 

 Let us turn to another genus of the group, Grypus ; 

 here the bill is not only armed with a strong hook 

 at the end of the mandibles, but with a row of 

 numerous and thickly-set teeth.* The G. ncuvius 



Fig. 131. Heliothrix auriculata. 



is said to frequent the borders of the great forests, 

 and to gain its food from among the interstices of 

 the bark of the palm-trees. All the members of the 

 genus Ramphornicron are said to feed on insects 



* This structure, according to Mr. Darwin (" Descent of 

 Man," ii. 39), is confined to the male bird. He adds, " hi the 

 curious Neomorpha of New Zealand there is a still wider 

 difference in the form of the beak, and Mr. Gould has been 

 informed that the male, with his straight and stout beak, 

 tears off the bark of trees, that the female may feed on the 

 uncovered larvae with her weaker and more curved beak." 



which inhabit the Alpine florae ; and their bill is 

 well suited to the capture of the minute insects 

 found in those elevated regions. In some instances 

 the bill is perfectly wedgeshaped, as in Heliothrix 

 (fig. 131) ; while in others it suddenly turns upwards, 





Fig. 132. Avoc.ttula recur eirostris. 



as in Avocettula (fig. 132). Besides these, there are 

 others whose bills approach somewhat to the form 

 of the Flycatchers, as the Aithurus (fig. 133). This 

 bird, we know, frequently seizes insects on the wing, 



Fig. 133. Aithurus polytmus. 



and so, doubtless, do many of the others. It will 

 have been seen that all these forms of bill are well 

 suited for the capture of insects, and, as might be 

 supposed, insects constitute the principal food of 

 the Humming-bird. (J. Gould, " Monograph of the 

 Trochilidoe.") I have been tempted to give the above 

 lengthy extract from Mr. Gould's great work on 

 the Humming-bird tribe, partly from the admirable 

 manner in which the author illustrates the subject 

 before us, and partly from the fact that so large and 

 expensive a work is probably in the hands of but 

 few of the readers of Sciexce-Gosstp. 



Fig. 134. Woodcock. 



In certain cases the food is sought for, not in the 

 air or on dry land, but in the water, or in mud an 

 other soft earthy matter. Here the beak is again 

 modified for the purpose in view, and it usually takes 

 one of two typical forms. The Woodcock (fig. 131), 

 Snipe, and other members of the family of Scolo- 

 pacidas, are furnished with a very long and pointed 

 bill, which is further supplied with a remarkably 



