

( INNY1UU.E. 



-. Yiiii'.r. 



confusion has consequently arisen in assigning them their respective 

 stations, more particularly among the Honey-Suckers of Australia, 

 h-..-u hare been indiscriminately scattered among every group of the 

 onler. lu the absence of that certain ami perfect information hieh 

 alone can authorise ui to decide upon the station of any bird in 

 nature, I cannot, at present, undertake to fill up the details of this 

 tribe with much prvU'imion to accuracy. The following sketch how- 

 ever of the Suctorial Families will, I imagine, be found to afford some 

 approach, in iU general outline, to the natural divisions into which 

 the tribe branches out, and to the order in which they succeed each 

 other: .Vrrtorm'u<te(M, Ciunyrulir, Truch'didtr, /Voiiirn./.i</<r, Melt- 

 fkagidte. Arranged according to their typical character*, they thus 

 sucooed each other : 



Normal Group. 



Bills and feet comparatively slender/ Cinnyrida. 

 <gracilioribus) . . I Trochilida. 



Aberrant Group. 



Bills and feet comparatively strong I 

 (fortioribus) .... l 



Mr. Vigors then proceeds to state that Illiger was the first who 



separated the true Certkia of the present day from the groups of the 



I.nina-an Crrlhia, which fee<l upon vegetable juices, and which he 



therefore distinguished by the generic name of Nectarinia. This 



Utter genus, observes Mr. Vigors, comprising two distinct and 



strongly marked groups, has again been separated by Cuvier into two 



divisions : for the first of which, consisting of birds whose bills are 



shorter and stronger than those of the second, and whose feet are also 



in general more robust, he has retained the name of Nectarinia ; 



while he has distinguished the latter division, where the bills are 



longer and more attenuated, and-the legs and feet are proportionally 



more delicate, by the appellation of Oinayru. The first two families 



in the arrangement of Mr. Vigors accord with these views; and he 



remarks that, besides the difference in their structure, the two groups 



may be separated by their geographical limits. The Nedariniada, as 



far as Mr. Vigors can trace out their extent, are confined to the New 



World ; while the Cinnyrida are circuuiscril>cd within the bounds oi 



the am -lent continent and its adjoining islands. In looking to the 



-aion of affinities in the tribe, Mr. Vigors remarks that the 



niiiiilii appear to hold, by the comparative strength of their 



feet and bill, on intermediate rank between the Creepers and the 



.1 groups of the present tribe. The Certhiada, as we have seen 



[i'HKKi'Kii], employ, he observes, the feet in climbing; the Nectari- 



'iK'i.l-i hop from flower to flower, seeking the nectar of each; while 



the ('iniif/i-iilii and Trochilida make no use whatever of the foot as 



they extract their food, but during the process of feeding are poised 



entirely on the wing. The two last-mentioned families, he adds, 



again approach each other in the slenderness of their bill, the vivid- 



ness and changeable lustre of their plumage, and the habit of hover 



ing on the wing when they feed. They are chiefly separated by the 



comparatively stronger foot and bill of the Cinnyrida ; but the 



geographical distribution of the two families points out a line o 



demarcation. Mr. Vigors concludes this part of his observations by 



acknowledging that these two typical families are the only groups in 



the tribe of whose situation he can speak with any confidence ; anil the.-w 



two families form the subject of this article. (' Natural Affinities tha 



connect the Orders and Families of Birds,' in ' Linn. Trans.,' vol. xiv. 



Mr. Swainson considers the Cinnyrida, or Sun-Birds so called 1>; 



the natives of Asia in allusion to their splendid and shining plumage 



the subtypical family of the Ttnuirnttra. He observes that tin 



affinity is obvious between this family and the Meliphagida ; bu 



whether the direct passage is made by the short-billed Honey-Suckers 



(lUcirum, Cuv.) or by the Spider-Suckers (Arachnothrra, Temm.) is 



uncertain. "The plumage of the meliphagous birds of Austr.ili:i,' 



ays Mr. Swainson, " is almost universally dull, or at least destitute 



of thiMe gay and beautiful tints which are so strikingly developed in 



the sun-birds: a rich ^oMuii green, varied on the under parts wit] 



steel-blue, purple, bright-orange, or vivid-crimson, decorates nearly al 



the species, and produces a brillancy of colours only rivalled by those 



of the humming-birds. The bill is very long, slender, and acutely 



(intol, the margins being dentated in the most regular and delicate 



manner : yet these teeth are so small as scarcely to be seen by th< 



naked eye ; the tongue is formed into a bifid tube, or rather, as w< 



inspect, into two flattened filaments; thus differing materially from tha 



< . f tin; lioue v nuckern, which always ends in abrush : the bill also is neve 



notched. The difference between the two structures is softened down 



by the intervention of the nectar-birds (Nectarinia, 111.), whose bil 



shows a union of both characters, the margins being finely dentated 



and the tip distinctly notched. The species of the latter are few 



and while r,,,,,yrU is restricted to the tropics of the Old World 



.-in in represents them in the New. Some few other forms, 



found in Australia and in the Oceania Islands, belong to this group 



and they are arranged in the genera 3felithrcj>tei and IHcaum, bu 



their habits are imperfectly understood." 



The genera arranged by Mr. Swainson under the family Cinnyrida! 

 are Mailhrtpla, Cinnyrit, Anthreptti, Ntdarinia, and l>ic<rum. Th 

 family stands between the ifdiphayidG and the Trochilida. 



Mr. O. R. Gray makes the Ncctarinida, as he writes the word, the 

 second family of the triU- T, utwtra, placing it between the Vftftda 

 and the Trwl.il" 



The ffedarinida, in his arrangement, comprise the following sub- 

 amilies and genera : 



Sub-Familyl. .VirMruriMe. 



Genera : WoAo, Less. (Mtropt, Cerlkia, Cm.; Grac*la, Merr. ; 

 Vdipkaga, Temm.). Drtpani*, Temm. (CerMa, Gin. ; .VrlHI>rr]>Hu, 

 "ieill. ;' r,^in,i, Klein.). .1 i. Hon<f. ; 



Certhia, Lath.). Neclarmia, IU. (Csrt/iiii. I. inn. ; MMuuffO, YieULj 

 Cimtyru, Cuv. ; Jttuiln,-r, Mirhr.). /'/./.,< MI-IW. Sw. (Prumeropt, Less.; 

 Upupa, Gm.). Anthrepttt, Sw. (MeUitwja, Vioill. ; Cinnyra, Sw.). 

 Certhiunyjc, Less. (CerUua, Cuv.). Dianm, Cuv. (Certhia, Gm.). 



Sub-Family 2. Ctrreliiuc. 



Crrthiola, Sundev. (Purnariut, St|.h. ; .\V.-((i ( -i'in'<i (111.), Le.; 

 Certhia, Linn.), itacnw, Cuv. (Cerlhia, Linn.). Uncirottrum, Lafr. 

 d D'Orb. 



Upon the whole we take the arrangement of Mr. Swainson. 

 The following cut is after hia figures in the ' Classification of Birds.' 



Bills of C 

 a, JItlitkrepta ; 6, Cinnyru; c, Anlhrepta ; d, A'eclarinia; r, Dianux. 



The Cinnyrida have the foUowing characters: Win^s with the 

 outermost quills more or lees shortened or graduated. Hill more or 

 less curved, generally entire. Nostrils short, oval, membranaceous, 

 opening by a lateral slit. Feet moderate. Bill entire. (Sw.) 



Mdithreptet, VieilL Bill long, sickle-shaped; the sides roiinidernlily 

 compressed ; the culmen elevated, and the tips entire. Nostrils very 

 short, opening by a semicircular slit Tongue long; the tip only 

 terminated by a bunch of short filaments. Winp< mo.l. -nt.- ; the 

 first three quills nearly equal. Feet robust, long ; lateral toes equal ; 

 tarsus almost twice as long as the hind toe. Pacific Islands. (Sw.) 



Example, Melithrrpta Pacifica, 



Cinnyru, Cuv. Bill long, slender ; the tips very acute and entire ; 

 the margins minutely denticulated ; base of the upper nwdibia 

 folding over, and partly concealing that of the lower. Nostrfll i<h"i-t. 

 oval Tongue retractile, simply forked; First quill spurious, 

 second shorter than the third. Tail even or rounded. India and 

 Africa. (Sw.) 



C. chalybeia. It is golden-green, with brown wings and tail, and 

 narrow pectoral red band bordered above by another of steel-blue ; 



IXMMKT Collared Creeper (niiyri chalybfia). (Sw., ' Zool. 111.') 



upper tail-covers blue. This, according to Mr. Swainson. IN r.rlhin 

 chalybeia. Linn., GiueL; Le Soui-manga a Collier, VieilL; and Collared 

 Creeper, Lath. 



Mr. Swainson remarks that another bird very nearly resembling 

 this has been figured by Le Vaillant under the name of Le Sucrier a 

 Plastron Rouge (' Ois d'Afr.,' pi. 300), but that Le Vaillant' s reasons 



