HUMMING-BIRD. 



stances, while the protrusile tongue, no doubt, seizes 

 it in others ; but whether by means of any viscid 

 secretion, as in the tongue of the woodpecker among 

 birds, and in the tongues of many of the insect-eat- 

 ing mammalia and reptiles, has not been ascertained ; 

 but it is probable that in those cases where the tongue 

 is forked or formed ii.to a kind of forceps, there may 

 be a prehensile instrument, which assists in catching 

 the food beyond the reach of the mandibles. 



Whatever may be the fact with regard to those 

 minor points, and whatever may be the curvature and 

 structure of the vomer, or cutting edges, there is not 

 the least doubt that the bill of the humming-birds is 

 decidedly an insectivorous bill ; and that it no more 

 sucks any liquid substance, than the bill of the god wit 

 sucks the ooze and mud which it simply searches for 

 any little animals that may be contained in it. Thus 

 when we come to examine the bills of those very 

 beautiful and highly interesting little birds, the first 

 thing that we are compelled to do is to demolish the 

 whole of that fine structure of poetic fancy which 

 goes about to feed them on the nectar or sweet matter 

 in the bottoms of the flower cups or tubes of those 

 plants among which the birds sport about with so 

 much liveliness and brilliance ; and into which they 

 are ever and anon plunging their bills, and their heads 

 and necks up to the very wings. They do not feed 

 upon this nectar, unless, perhaps, they take up a por- 

 tion of it along with that which constitutes their prin- 

 cipal food. But though the birds do not feed directly 

 on any part or product of the flowers, they do so indi- 

 rectly in many instances ; for the land of humming- 

 birds is in an especial manner also the land of insects ; 

 and though some of the winged insects are larger 

 than the birds themselves, there are countless thou- 

 sands of others which are exceedingly minute. Of 

 these a vast number of species are found sporting in 

 the air ; while others are on the leaves, and espe- 

 cially in the flower?, with which the forests of 

 America so much abound. The central forests ot that 

 country are festooned with an endless number of 

 climbing plants, usually having the flowers, more or 

 less, bell or trumpet-shaped, many of them of large di- 

 mensions and of the most splendid colours ; and these 

 flower-cups are turned in every imaginable direction, 

 upwards, downwards, or obliquely ; and not a few 

 of them have a curvature in the narrow part of the 

 tube. Thus bills which are long and slender, and 

 also which have various kinds of curvature, are re- 

 quired for getting at whatever substances fit for birds' 

 food may happen to be in those tubes ; but from the 

 sharp tips of the bill, and the other circumstances 

 connected with these organs which we have men- 

 tioned, this food must be something more solid than 

 any sw.eet liquid that may be contained in such lubes ; 

 and we believe that many of them are not very remark- 

 able for their sweetness. 



An examination of the deep cups of flowers in this 

 country will help us to what really is to be found in 

 these cups ; and when we consider the difference 

 between the one country and the other, and that 

 the air of those places of America literally teems with 

 life down to a minuteness, to which the eye is not 

 able to follow it, we can easily see what it is that the 

 birds seek in those gay blossoms ; for it is, and must 

 be, the small insects which take up their abode there. 



lliiuiming-birds are, as we have said, exceedingly 

 numerous ; and \^ is a general law in nature, that. 

 rvcry production which is native in any locality, is of 



value in the economy of the whole in proportion to 

 its abundance. We find the trees and the ground 

 between very amply furnished with birds ; and also 

 with mammalia, ad'apted for keeping down the vast 

 production of larger insects which is found there ; 

 and it is natural to suppose that there should be birds 

 fitted for performing the same operation on the 

 flowers which festoon and adorn those mighty forests ; 

 nor could we very readily imagine a race of creatures 

 better fitted for the performance of this duty than the 

 humming-birds are ; they are light ; they are very 

 powerful in the wing; their plumage can hardly be 

 ruffled ; and their powers of action are very great. 

 On these accounts they do not prey on any part of 

 the splendid flowers which adorn their haunts, but 

 are on the other hand the most efficient conservators 

 of them that can well be imagined ; and as the flowers 

 are in very great variety, as well as in countless num- 

 bers, just so are the birds, and their sizes, and the 

 different shapes of their bills ; there is no flower of 

 which they have not complete command, at the same 

 time that their powerful wings bear them from place 

 to place without any apparent fatigue. The Bignoni- 

 aceae, or trumpet-flower family, are among the plants 

 of which those birds appear to have especial care , 

 and if the reader will turn to the article BIGNONIACE^E, 

 and the plate with the same title, he will form at least 

 some idea of the form of the flowers of which the 

 humming-birds appear to take especial care. Some 

 of these, which are climbers, are plains of great beau- 

 ty, with very handsome flowers ; and they are capa- 

 ble of making their way to the summits of lofty rocks, 

 and the tops of tall trees ; and when the side of an 

 opening in a forest, or the face of a rock, is festoon- 

 ed over with them, arid the humming-birds are then 

 in all their activity, multitude, and vaiiety, it is riot 

 easy to imagine a finer sight. Some of these plants 

 will grow as far to the northward as the middle States 

 of America ; and there are some, also, which can be 

 trained on a wall in the open air in this country ; but 

 still their head quarters are in the forests of central 

 America, both on the main land and in the islands. 

 In those places, the sun is never far from being 

 directly over head at mid-day, and sometimes it is 

 exactly so ; so that if we suppose the face of the 

 forest or precipice to be turned either to the north 

 or to the south, it will have the benefit of the sun from 

 the time of its rising in the morning to that of its set- 

 ting at night, only the projections of the different 

 festoons will produce a continual variation of light 

 and shade upon it. In this perpetually varying light 

 upon the splendid and beautiful vegetation, the hum- 

 ming-bird can sport on the wing, and pursue the 

 labour for which they are appointed during the live- 

 long day ; and their appearance in numbers at such 

 a place makes it appear as if gems of greater bril- 

 liancy than those of all the kings of the earth were 

 floating about in wanton mazes through the air. 



We need hardly advert a second time to the feet 

 of these birds, because we have already hinted at 

 their general structure. They are, like the feet of 

 the swifts, small and weak, as compared with the or- 

 gans of flight ; but this is true to that system of wise 

 economy, which nature shows throughout all her 

 works, for the feet are seldom used except for the 

 purpose of repose. In this respect there is a consi- 

 derable difference between them and the feet of the 

 swifts ; and there is a corresponding; difference be- 

 tween the kind of surface and substance to which 



