SUN BIRDS. 471 
and builder, for it measures not less than from twelve to fourteen 
inches in diameter; it is entirely formed of clay, and the interior 
is divided into two compartments by a partition, the outer and inner, 
the latter being that in which the female lays her eggs. When 
engaged making this birthplace for their young, the male and female 
alternately bring small balls of earth, out of which the edifice is 
constructed, and they labour so industriously that their work is some- 
times finished in two days. Some species construct their nests on 
trees, interlacing them with spiny branches, and providing one or 
many openings ; that of the Cinclodes is fifteen inches in diameter 
by twenty inches in height. 
The Thornbills, of which 
the Columbian (Rhamphomi- 
cron heteropogon, Fig. 190) is 
best known of the family, are 
American birds; their love 
for saccharine substances has 
obtained for them their sy- 
nonym. They feed on honey 
extracted from flowers, and 
the sap from the sugar-cane, 
the juice of which they suck 
through crevices in the stem. 
Like the Humming- birds, 
they have the tongue divided 
into two parts, by which they 
are enabled to seize insects, 
which form apartof their diet. 
They are small in size, and 
their plumage is_ brilliantly 
coloured. Among the Czumy- 
ride we find the Guzts-guzts, ingenious little creatures, which construct 
a nest in the form of a horn, which is suspended from the flexible 
branches of a shrub: in order to protect their young from the attacks 
of earwigs, the opening is below. 
The Sun Birds (Vecfarina) have the same partiality for sugar 
exhibited by the last, justifying their name, which signifies “ sugar- 
eater” in the Malagash tongue. ‘They are natives of Southern Africa 
and India, and represent in the Old World the Humming-birds of 
the New. ‘They are gay and sprightly, and decked in the most 
brilliant colours. 
The Nuthatches (S¢/¢a ewropa@a, Fig. 191) have the beak straight, 
Fig ror —The Common Nuthatch. 
