328 ZOOLOGY. 



A variety of species inhabit India, of which the most common appear to 

 be the N. zeylonica, mahrattensis, and others, 



Sub-fom. 2. CcerebiiicB, or American Creepers. Bill generally rather 

 short, wide at the base, curved or sometimes nearly straight, sides com- 

 pressed. Wings long and pointed ; tail short, usually even ; tarsi short ; 

 feet moderate. Size small. Colors usually blue or green and showy. 



A sub-family of beautiful little birds peculiar to South America, said to 

 feed upon the minute insects which frequent expanded flowers, about which 

 they are observed to fly in the manner of humming birds. Their nests are 

 suspended from the branches of trees, pear-shaped, composed of grass and 

 woody fibres woven together, and with a tubular entrance from below. 

 This mode of construction warrants security from monkeys, serpents, or 

 other depredators. 



There are about twenty species of these birds, the most common of 

 which are the Ccereha cyanea {pi. 102, ßg. 9) and caerulea, the Dacnis 

 spiza, a beautiful green bird with a black head, and the Certhiola flaveola. 



Fam. 3. Trociiilid^, or Humming Birds. Bill generally long, very 

 slender, usually curved but sometimes straight, with the lateral margins 

 of the upper mandible dilated. Wings generally long and flattened in a 

 peculiar manner ; tail usually ample, truncated or cuneated ; tarsi and feet 

 usually very small and weak. Size very small. 



The most diminutive birds in existence, and among the most beautiful. 

 Swainson gives the following description in Lardner's Cyclopaedia, Birds II. 

 page 146, in his usual forcible and pleasant manner. "In speaking of these 

 charming birds, the naturalist is almost tempted to abandon that didactic 

 style best suited to his subject, and to clothe his information in the language 

 of poetry ; yet both must fail in conveying to the mind an adequate idea 

 of their surpassing beauty. The rainbow colors of the most resplendent 

 iiems are here superadded to a living form which in itself is exquisitely 

 graceful and animated in all its movements. The flight of these pigmy 

 birds is so rapid as to elude the eye ; for a few moments they may be seen 

 hovering over a flower, but as soon as they have supped its sweetness they 

 vanish in an instant ; they may, in truth, be said to * come like shadows, so 

 depart.' " 



This celebrated family of birds is exclusively American and very nume- 

 rous, there not being less than three hundred species now known, to which 

 almost every traveller in South America yet makes additions. 



Sub-fam. 1. Grypince, or Wedge-tailed Humming Birds. Bill long, 

 slender, and curved throughout its length ; culmen of the upper mandible 

 distinctly keeled, tip acute, lateral margins dilated and overlapping the under 

 mandible ; wings long and pointed ; tail long, broad, and generally cuneated ; 

 tarsi short and very slender. Colors generally plain, not metallic. 



About thirty birds compose this sub- family. They are very distinct from 

 the other sub-families of Humming Birds, and are nearly all remarkable for 

 their plain plumage and long tails. They inhabit all parts of South America, 

 but one genus {Oreofrochilus, Gould) contains species which are found 

 only in the Andes, immediately below the line of perpetual snow. 

 632 



