HUMMING-BIRD 447 
Eupetomena and Sphenoproctus, present a most curious sexual 
peculiarity, for while the female has nothing remarkable in the 
form of the wing, in the male the shaft of two or three of the 
outer primaries is dilated proximally, and bowed near the middle 
in a manner almost unique among birds. The feet again, diminu- 
tive as they are, are very diversified in form. In most the tarsus 
is bare, but in some groups, as Hriocnemis, it is clothed with tufts of 
the most delicate down, sometimes black, sometimes buff, but more 
often of a snowy whiteness. In some the toes are weak, nearly 
equal in length, and furnished with small rounded nails; in others 
they are largely developed, and armed with long and sharp claws. 
Apart from the well-known brilliancy of plumage, of which 
enough has been here said, many Humming-birds display a large 
amount of ornamentation in the addition to their attire of crests of 
various shape and size, elongated ear-tufts, projecting neck-frills, 
and pendent beards—forked or forming a single point. But it 
would be impossible here to dwell on a tenth of these beautiful 
modifications, each of which as it comes to our knowledge excites 
fresh surprise and exemplifies the ancient adage—mazime miranda 
in minimis Natura. It must be remarked, however, that there are 
certain forms which possess little or no brilliant colouring at all, 
but, as most tropical birds go, are very soberly clad. These are 
known to trochilidists as “ Hermits,” and by Mr. Gould have been 
separated as a subfamily under the name of Phaethornithinx, though 
Mr. Elliot says he cannot find any characters to distinguish it from 
the Trochilidz proper. But sight is not the only sense that is affected 
by Humming-birds. The large species known as Pterophanes 
temmincki has a strong musky odour, very similar to that given off 
by the Petrels, though, so far as appears to be known, that is the 
only one of them that possesses this property.! 
All well-informed people are aware that the Tvochilidw are a 
Family peculiar to America and its islands, but one of the com- 
monest of common errors is the belief that Humming-birds are found 
in Africa and India—to say nothing even of England. In the first 
two cases the mistake arises from confounding them with some of 
the brightly-coloured Nectariniide (SUN-BIRD), to which British 
colonists or residents are apt to apply the better-known name; but 
in the last it can be only due to the want of perception which dis- 
ables the observer from distinguishing between a bird and an insect 
1 The specific name of a species of Chrysolampis, commonly spelt by many 
writers moschitus, would lead to the belief that it was a mistake for moschatus, 
i.e. “musky,” but in truth it originates with their carelessness, for though they 
quote Linnzus as their authority they can never have referred to his works, or 
they would have found the word to be mosquitus, the ‘‘mosquito” of Oviedo, 
awkwardly, it is true, Latinized. If emendation be needed, muscatus, after 
Gesner’s example, is undoubtedly preferable, 
