316 TROPICAL NATURE 



humming-birds may be easily distinguished, by the varied 

 combinations of the characters here briefly enumerated, to- 

 gether with many others of less importance. One group of 

 birds will have a short round tail, with crest and long neck- 

 frill; another group a deeply-forked broad tail, combined 

 with glowing crown and gorget; one is both bearded and 

 crested; others have a luminous back and pendent neck- 

 plumes ; and in each of these groups the species will vary in 

 combinations of colour, in size, and in the proportions of the 

 ornamental plumes, so as to produce an unmistakable dis- 

 tinctness; while, without any new developments of form or 

 structure, there is room for the discovery of hundreds more of 

 distinct kinds of humming-birds. 



Descriptive Names 



The name we usually give to the birds of this family is derived 

 from the sound of their rapidly-moving wings, a sound which 

 is produced by the largest as well as by the smallest member of 

 the group. The Creoles of Guiana similarly call them Bourdons 

 or hummers. The French term, Oiseau-mouche, refers to their 

 small size ; while Colibri is a native name which has come 

 down from the Carib inhabitants of the West Indies. The 

 Spaniards and Portuguese call them by more poetical names, 

 such as flower-peckers, flower-kissers, myrtle-suckers while 

 the Mexican and Peruvian names show a still higher apprecia- 

 tion of their beauties, their meaning being " rays of the sun," 

 " tresses of the day-star," and other such appellations. Even 

 our modern naturalists, while studying the structure and 

 noting the peculiarities of these living gems, have been 

 so struck by their inimitable beauties that they have en- 

 deavoured to invent appropriate English names for the more 

 beautiful and remarkable genera. Hence we find in common 

 use such terms as sun-gems, sun-stars, hill-stars, wood-stars, 

 sun -angels, star -throats, comets, coquettes, flame -bearers, 

 sylphs, and fairies ; together with many others derived from 

 the character of the tail or the crests. 



Tlie Motions and Habits of Humming-Birds 

 Let us now consider briefly the peculiarities of flight, the 

 motions, the food, the nests, and general habits of the humming- 



