PROMEROJ'ID.i: 



9-5 



C<j:rebin.e. 



>S' 



UB-FAMILY II. 



The Guit-guits. 



Gen. Chahac— Bill longer or shorter than the head, sometimes curved through- 

 out its length, or straight and acutely conical, the base broad, and the sides 

 compressed, with the tip usually emarginated ; the nostrils basal and lateral, 

 and jjrotected by a hard scale ; the wings long and rather pointed;- the tail 

 short and mostly even ; the tarsi short ; the toes moderate, slender, and the 

 outer united at its base. 



/ \U$). 



^i>^><i 



Fig. 36.— the blue guit-guix, 

 (Ccereba ci/aneu.) 



These birds are natives of tlie warmer parts of 

 South America^ where they are usually seen among 

 flowers, searching for small insects and honied juices, 

 which they are able to extract by means of their 

 tongue. Their nests are suspended from the ends 

 of slender branches, and are sometimes in the form 

 of a lengthened pear or chemist^s retort, terminated 

 by a long tube that bends towards the ground. This 

 beautiful nest is composed of dried grass and slender 



