110 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



SUB-ORDER STRISORES. 



FAMILY TROCHILIDJE. THE HUMMING-BIRDS. 



There is no group of birds so interesting to the ornithologist or to the casual 

 observer as the Humming-birds ; at once the smallest in size, the most gorgeously 

 beautiful in color, and almost the most abundant in species of any single family of 

 birds. They are strictly confined to the continent and islands of America, and are 

 most abundant in the Central-American States ; though single species range almost 

 to the Arctic regions on the north and to Patagonia on the south, as well as from 

 the seacoast to the frozen summits of the Andes. The number of known species 

 considerably exceeds three hundred, and new ones are being constantly brought to 

 light; so that an estimate of four hundred species is, perhaps, not too large. Many 

 are very limited in their range ; some confined to particular islands, even though of 

 small dimensions. 



The bill of the Humming-bird is awl-shaped or subulate, thin, and sharp- 

 pointed, straight or curved; sometimes as long as the head, sometimes much 

 longer. The mandibles are excavated to the tip for the lodgement of the tongue, 

 and form a tube by the close apposition of their cutting edges. There is no indica- 

 tion of stiff bristly feathers at the base of the mouth. The tongue has some resem- 

 blance to that of the Woodpeckers in the elongation of the cornua backwards, 

 so as to pass round the back of the skull, and then anteriorly to the base of the 

 bill. The tongue itself is of very peculiar structure, consisting anteriorly of two 

 hollow threads closed at the ends and united behind. The food of the Humming- 

 bird consists almost entirely of insects, which are captured by protruding the tongue 

 into flowers of various shapes, without opening the bill very wide. 



The wings of the Humming-birds are long and falcate ; the shafts very strong ; 

 the primaries usually ten in number, the first always longest ; there are six seconda- 

 ries. The tail has but ten feathers. The feet are small ; the claws very sharp and 

 strong. 1 



The species known to inhabit the United States, though few, are yet nearly twice 

 as many as given by Mr. Audubon. It is probable that additional ones will here- 

 after be detected, particularly on our southern borders. 



The different authors who have made a specialty of the Humming-birds have 

 named a great many sub-families and genera ; but there has as yet been no published 

 systematic description of the higher groups. It is probable that the North-Ameri- 



1 Most of the above general remarks are borrowed from Burmeister (Thiere Bra- 

 siliens, Vogel, 311), to which I would refer for an excellent article on the structure 

 and habits of Humming-birds. 



