BIRDS. 



567 



habits, occasionally hovering about a flower in the same way, and at other 

 times perching upon a leaf or twig, while with its bill it probes the recesses 

 of a blossom. 



The term creepers is well applied to the little climbing birds that bear 

 it. They creep about on the trunks of trees much as do the woodpeckers 

 and nut-hatches, prying into all the cracks in the bark for the insects on 



Fig. 467. — Sun-bird (Nectarinia metallica). 



which they prey. They move about with the utmost ease even when 

 underneath a slightly inclined branch, the stiffened tail-feathers aiding in 

 supporting the body. Allied to these forms are the honey-creepers of trop- 

 ical America ; but while our creepers are sober-colored, the honey-creepers 

 are much brighter. These latter birds suck the honey from the flowers, 

 and, like the humming-birds, feed upon the minute insects attracted to the 

 blossoms by the sweets afforded there. One species of the West Indies 



