INSESSORES. 853 



slender beak, is of a coral-red ; the entire plumage varies with 

 metallic blue and green. This brilliant bird is found in South 

 Africa. It lives in small flocks. The Grand Promerops, 

 Epimachus, (Gr. epimachos,) magnus, (see Chart,) has a gradua- 

 ted tail, three times as long as the body ; the feathers of the sides 

 are lengthened, raised and curled. They glitter on their edges 

 with steel-blue, azure, and emerald-green, like precious stones, 

 those of the body are of a deep, or brownish black. It inhabits 

 the coasts of New Guinea. Swainson says it is "a bird of such 

 excessive rarity, that only two perfect specimens have been 

 known to exist in Europe." 



SECOND FAMILY. SUN BIRDS. 



Cinnyrida, (Gr. xtwa, kinna, a grass; vgtov, hurion, honey- 

 comb?) Genus Cinnyris, Cuv. or Nectarimdce, (Gr. VEXTUQ, 

 nectar, nectar.) Genus Nectarmia, Illig. 



The Sun-Birds, so called from their splendid glossy plumage, 

 are arranged into two groups, (1,) Cinnynda, genus Cinny- 

 r i S) of Africa, India and the islands of the Eastern Archipel- 

 ago, which have comparatively slender bills and feet, and the 

 tongue retractile and simply forked; and, (2,) the Nectarinidce, 

 of South America and the Pacific islands, which have the beak 

 and feet comparatively strong, and hold an intermediate rank 

 between the Creepers, (Certhiada.) and the Sun Birds, (Cinnyri- 

 d& ) and the Humming Birds, (Trocliihd&,} The Nectarines 

 are to the New W-rld what the Sun Birds are to the Old ; their 

 tongue ends in a sort of pencil or brush; and they hop from 

 flower to flower, seeking the nectar of each ; while the Sun 

 Birds and the Humming Birds make no use whatever of their 

 feet as they extract their food, but in feeding, are poised upon 

 the wing. The Sun Birds and Humming Birds, as M. Vigors 

 remarks, approach each other in the slendernes of their bill, the 

 vividness and changeable lustre of their plumage, and the habit 

 of hovering on the wing when they feed, and being chiefly sepa- 

 rated from each other by the comparatively stronger foot and 

 bill of the Sun Birds. Both groups of Sun Birds are included 

 by Mr. G. R. Gray in one family, Nectarinidce; but Swainson 

 arranges the several genera under the name Cinnyrida. 



Some of the Sun Birds add the charm of song to that of brill- 

 iancy of plumage ; and the music of one has been compared to 

 that of the Nightingale. Their nest is usually suspended, and 

 of a globe-like form, having an opening on one side, generally 

 near the bottom. 



