358 Descriptions of the Groups of Birds 



fishers would appear to be most inadequately replaced by the 

 limited group of todies : indeed, in the instance of the Hal- 

 cyoniddBy we iind that some species occur on the American 

 continent. It is familiar to all that numerous groups are more 

 or less confined to particular regions ; and where one is re- 

 presented or replaced by another, it matters little how dissi- 

 milar are the types on which they are respectively modified, 

 inasmuch as it is in adaptive characters, rather than intrinsi- 

 cal physiological agreement, that the representation is mani- 

 fested : for example, the Trochilidce, which have the intimate 

 structure of the swifts, are represented in the tropical and 

 southern regions of the ancient continent and its islands, by 

 analogous groups of nectar-feeding birds, which differ from 

 them in every detail of their anatomy, being genuine Cantrices. 

 It has always appeared to me remarkable, that, since the 

 time of Linnaeus, not a single accession has been discovered 

 to that series of forms on which I am now engaged ; though, 

 in some instances, as that of the tody, only one species was 

 known to that indefatigable enquirer ; and it is only within 

 the last twelvemonth, that two more have been added by Mr. 

 Gould. They are birds of diminutive size, with much of the 

 general form of the halcyons, but a longer tarse, enabling 

 them to leap from spray to spray with facility. Their plumage 

 is very soft and full, vividly coloured, and glossless ; wings, 

 short and rounded; and "flight," according to a writer in the 

 'Field Naturalist's Magazine,' "always extremely short, hard- 

 ly ever farther than from bush to bush." " It may be easily," 

 continues this observer, "knocked down ; and I used to pro- 

 cure them by striking them down with a switch, having a few 

 leaves not stripped off at the end of it." Mr. MacLeay, who 

 has also personally studied the Todus viridis in its native lo- 

 cality, informs me that the various accounts representing this 

 bird to sing, are erroneous ; as the absence of a complex mus- 

 cular apparatus to the lower larynx, of itself indicates. I am 

 indebted to him for the following interesting communication. 

 " While riding amidst the luxuriant vegetation which coats 

 the banks of the rivers in this noble island, [Cuba], I often 

 am amused by the bird which the Spaniards call by the home- 

 ly name of Peorrero. Perched on a twig close to me, he views 

 my motions askance, and makes a whirring noise to his fe- 

 male, as he now and then picks up an insect. His flight is 

 short, rather slow, and principally among the foliage, where, 

 accompanied by his mate, he seeks his insect prey. Brown, 

 in his ' History of Jamaica,' where this bird is called the "tom- 

 tit," says that 'it keeps much about houses in the country 

 parts.' I did not see the bird myself during my stay in that 



