128 



SUBKINGDOM VEETEBEATA. 



Chcetttra pelasgia, 



Fig. 218. American species, with its feet, 



while on the wing, adroitly breaks 

 off twigs and fastens them to the 

 chimney with its tough, glue-like 

 saliva so strongly that the brick to 

 which the nest is attached will 

 sometimes yield before the cement. 

 Trochilidae. Humming-birds 

 are peculiarly American. About 

 450 species are recognized, yet only 

 one, the Ruby-throated, visits the 

 North Atlantic States, and but ten 

 any part of the United States 



chimney-swallow or Swift. \. They are the smallest as well as the 

 gayest of birds, blending in their rich plumage the rarest 

 colors of flower and gem. Their bills, shaped according to 

 the form of the blossom 

 they are designed to pene- 

 trate for insects, vary great- 

 ly some being short and 

 straight, others longer than 

 their bodies,, and yet others 

 greatly curved. The hum- 

 ming-bird can fly so rapidly 

 that the eye can scarcely 

 follow its flight, or, by beat- 

 ing the air with its wings, 

 sustain itself in front of a 

 flower almost immovable. 

 All the species build tiny, 



times per year from the caves to which 

 the swallows are accustomed to resort, 

 the old nests being destroyed to com- 

 pel the birds to build new ones, which, 

 when fresh and unused, bring their 

 weight in silver. The proprietors of a 

 cave in Java are said to receive 50,000 

 florins annually for rent, and 4,000,000 

 nests are yearly exported from the coast 

 of Cochin China. ~" Nest of Humming-bird. 



Trocttilus colubriSi 

 Ruby-throated Humming-bird. 



Fig. 215. 



