TirE SUN-BIRDS.* 



Tin: Sl'l.EXDID sux-iiir.D.t 



Of this race of the Feathered Tribes it has been truly said : — - 



" Each spangk'd hack bright .sprinkk'd specks adorn, 

 Each plume imbibes the rosj- tinctured morn ; 

 Spread on each wing the tiorid season's glow, 

 Shaded and verged with the celestial bow ; 

 Where coloui-s blend an ever-varying dye, 

 And wanton in their gay exchanges \-ie." 



Hence it is that they are called " Sun-birds," appearing, as they do, in extraordinary 

 resplendence among their generally duU-iilumaged companions. It was indeed to be 



HEAD OF DICa;UM. 



expected that some portions of the Old World, and more particularly those under the 

 tropics, would present forms bearing a close alliance in their habits, and exhibiting some 

 of the resplendent colouring which so conspicuously marked the plumage of the humming- 

 birds. And these expectations, commenced by theory as a general law, have been 



* Soui-mangas. Cinnyris. — C'uv. Xcctax'Luiadx'. 



t Kectarinia Splendida,— Shaw, 



