SUCEIERS. 



497 



tliat of the Annumbi is fifteen inches in diameter by twenty- 

 inches in height. 



The SucRTERS {C'mnyridce) are American birds, so called from 

 their attachment to saccharine substances. They feed on honey 

 they extract 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 a 



Fig. 210.— Sun-birds {Certhia chnlybeia, Linn.). 



part of their food. They are small in size, and their plumage is 

 brilliantly coloured. Among the Cinnyridce we find the Guits-gidts, 

 ino-enious 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 Soui-MANGAS (Fig. 210) have the same partiality for 



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