HUMMING-BIRDS 313 



and of habits ; so that they have to be classed in more than a 

 hundred distinct genera or systematic groups of species, these 

 genera being really as unlike each other as stonechats and 

 nightingales, or as partridges and blackcocks. The figures we 

 have quoted, as showing the proportion of birds in general to 

 humming-birds, thus represent real facts ; and they teach us 

 that these small and in some respects insignificant birds con- 

 stitute an important item in the animal life of the globe. 



Humming-birds are, in many respects, unusually interesting 

 and instructive. They are highly peculiar in form, in struc- 

 ture, and in habits, and are quite unrivalled as regards variety 

 and beauty. Though the name is familiar to every one, few 

 but naturalists are acquainted with the many curious facts in 

 their history, or know how much material they afford for 

 admiration and study. It is proposed, therefore, to give a 

 brief and popular account of the form, structure, habits, dis- 

 tribution, and affinities of this remarkable family of birds, as 

 illustrative of the teeming luxuriance of tropical nature, and 

 as throwing light on some of the most interesting problems of 

 natural history. 



Structure 



The humming-birds form one compact family named 

 Trochilidse. They are all small birds, the largest known being 

 about the size of a swallow, while the smallest are minute 

 creatures, whose bodies are hardly larger than a humble-bee. 

 Their distinguishing features are excessively short legs and 

 feet, very long and pointed wings, a long and slender bill, 

 and a long extensible tubular tongue; and these characters are 

 found combined in no other birds. The feet are exceedingly 

 small and delicate, often beautifully tufted with down, and so 

 short as to be hardly visible beyond the plumage. The toes 

 are placed as in most birds, three in front and one behind, 

 and have very strong and sharply curved claws ; and the feet 

 serve probably to cling to a perch rather than to give any 

 movement to the body. The wings are long and narrow, but 

 strongly formed ; and the first quill is the longest, a peculiarity 

 found in hardly any other birds but a few of the swifts. The 

 bill varies greatly in length, but is always long, slender, and 

 pointed, the upper mandible being the widest and lapping 



