BIRDS. 



291 



Macrochires. The goatsuckers, so called because it 

 was formerly imagined that they suck the milk of 

 herds, and the closely-allied whippoorwill are birds with 

 sober-mottled plumage. The nests are made among dead 

 leaves on the ground. The night-hawk, which is not a 



FIG. 241. 



a, sword-bill humming-bird (Docimastes ensifer); b, white-booted racket-tail 

 (Steganurus Underwoodi) ; c, c f , male and female tufted coquette (Lophornis 

 ornata). 



hawk at all, is of this order. The humming-birds, exceed- 

 ingly small, of which there are many species, are often 

 very beautiful, the minute feathers appearing as bril- 

 liant scales, having lustrous metallic reflections. They 

 have long beaks and very long tongues, which they 

 thrust into flowers for the purpose of feeding on small 

 insects, and probably, also, on the nectar. 



