102 



TENUIROSTRES. 



Grypix.^:. 



SUB-FAMILY 7. 



The WeJye-tailed Humming -birds. 



Gen. Charac. — Bill more or less long, slender, and generally curved through- 

 out its whole length, with the culmen keeled at the base, and then rounded 

 to the tip, which is acute, the lateral margins dilated and overlapping the 

 lower mandible ; the nostrils basal and covered by a scale ; the wings long 

 and pointed ; the tail long, broad, and generally euneated ; the tarsi 

 short and slender ; the toes long, slender, and sometimes united at their 

 bases, the hind toe more or less long and slender ; the anterior claws long 

 and slender, and that of the hind toe sometimes very small. 





/ 



~^r*' 



==*-.^a^ 



Fig. 39.— pretrecs's hermit. 

 (Pkcetoniis Fretrei.) 



These Humming-birds are remarkable among 

 tlieir glittering race for being destitute of metallic 

 brilliancy, and, as tlieir common name of ^^ hermit ^^ 

 implies, for affecting dark and gloomy situations. 

 They constitute perhaps the only group of the 

 family which frequent the interior of the forests, and 

 there obtain their insect food, some from the under 

 side of the leaves of the great trees, while others 



