566 



NA TURA L HIS TOR Y. 



arrived, they would alight on their backs in crowds, to the evident satis- 

 faction of the oxen, which they relieved of troublesome parasites. Although 

 the hercl-boys commonly lay dozing at full length on the buffaloes' backs, 

 the birds seemed to know that they were quite safe, and would even alight 

 on the bare backs of the sleepers, and from that hop down to the haunches 

 of the quadrupeds." 



J™ 



^p^^ 



AA mh 



>. Mp ! 



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Fig. 4GG. — Huia-bird (Heteralocha aeutirostris). 



The sun-birds are usually confounded in the popular mind with the 

 humming-birds, although the two are very different in structure and 

 inhabit different parts of the world. The humming-birds are exclusively 

 inhabitants of America, while the sun-birds, their rivals in beautiful plu- 

 mage, belong solely to the eastern hemisphere. They have the same bright 

 colors, the same metallic lustres, and esseiitiall}- the same nectar-sucking 



