PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 



uses, aa is said, to suck up the nectar of flowers ; 

 nevertheless, the Humming-birds live also on 

 small insects, of which we have found the sto- 

 mach full. Their very small feet, their ample 

 tail, their wings excessively long and narrow, 

 from the rapid abbreviation of the quill-feathers 

 in succession, their short humerus, their ex- 

 tremely large sternum, without a notch, consti- 

 tute an apparatus of flight very closely re- 

 sembling that of the swifts. The Humming- 

 birds are moreover capable of balancing them- 

 selves in the air (that is, of remaining stationary 

 while on the wing) almost as easily as certain 

 kinds of flies. It is thus that they buz around 

 plants or shrubs in blossom, and they fly more 

 rapidly in proportion than any other bird. 

 Their gizzard is very small, and the intestinal 

 canal is destitute of a caecal appendage, in which 

 respect they approximate to the woodpeckers. 

 They live isolated, defend their nests with 

 courage, and fight desperately with each other." 



Cuvier then observes that to the species which 

 have the beak arched, is given the exclusive title 

 of Colibris TrochilusLsLcepede; while those which 

 have the beak straight are termed Oiseaux-mou- 

 ches, or Fly-birds, Orthorhynchus Lacepede. 



This is the arrangement also of Lesson in his 

 Manuel, but not in his work " Les Trochilidees, 

 ou Les Colibris et les Oiseaux-mouches," where 

 he divides them into twenty-seven races, or small 

 groups, to which the following general zoological 

 characters apply : 



