THE HUMMING BIRDS 



1785 



the passerine type. Having the keel of the breastbone well developed, in accord- 

 ance with their marvelous power of sustained flight, the humming birds are charac- 

 terized by the presence of ten feathers in the tail, and the same number of primary 

 quills in the wing; while the secondaries are reduced to six, and are thus very dif- 

 ferent from those of the perching birds. The three forwardly directed toes are sup- 

 plied by as many branches of one tendon, while another serves the backwardly 

 directed first toe. The most remarkable peculiarity of the humming birds is in the 

 structure of the tongue, this organ being extensile, with its supporting bones carried 

 backward over the hinder part of the skull. 



CHTMBORAZAN HILL STAR. 

 (Four-fifths natural size.) 



Although adorned with such brilliant metallic colors, the members 

 of this family do not display their tinseled plumage to any great ad- 

 vantage during flight; many observers having remarked how little of the brilliancy 

 of the bird's body is apparent when it is darting through the trees or hovering in 

 front of a flower. This is due to the extremely rapid motions of a humming bird's 

 wing, the beats of which are almost invisible from their rapidity. Professor New- 

 ton has well described the impression conveyed by the bird's flight when he writes 

 that " one is admiring the clustering stars of a scarlet Cordia, the snowy cornu- 

 copias of a Portlandia, or some other brilliant and beautiful flower, when between 

 one's eye and the blossoms suddenly appears a small, dark object, suspended, as it 



