42G 



SUBDIVISION OF INSESSORES. 



(Fig. 225). The Humming Birds are the most characteristic 

 examples of this group ; to which belong, however, many Birds 

 whose principal food consists of insects. 



FJG. 2-25 HUMMING BIRD. 



IV. FISSIROSTRES, or gaping-Ulled Birds; in which the 

 beak is very much depressed (or flattened horizontally), so as to 

 give it an extremely wide opening, when the mandibles are 

 separated (Fig. 

 226). The pur- 

 pose of this 

 conformation is 



to allow these ^^'^^iyS^ 



Birds to cap- 

 ture insects on 

 the wing ; we 

 have a good 

 specimen of it 

 in the Swallow, 

 and a still better 

 one in the Goat- 

 sucker. Of the 



very numerous families included in these groups, our limits 

 prevent us from noticing more than the most important. 



FIG. 226. HEAD OF GOAT-SUCKER. 



