186 LECTURE V. 



to be imagined that all the race of Humming- 

 Birds are so decorated j some are even obscure 

 in their colours, and instead of the prevailing 

 splendor of the major part of the genus, exhibit 

 only a faint appearance of a golden-green tinge 

 slightly diffused .over the brown or purplish-brown 

 colour of the back and wings : neither are all the 

 species very small, for some few exist which mea- 

 sure many inches in length, and may be con- 

 sidered as the giants of this generally diminutive 

 genus. 



The structure of the tongue in the Humming- 

 Birds, which constitutes the chief part of the ge- 

 neric character, cannot be sufficiently admired. 

 It consists of a very long double tube, formed 

 somewhat on the principle of the long trunk in 

 some of the Moth and Butterfly tribe, except 

 that instead of being rolled into a spiral form 

 when contracted, it is merely withdrawn and 

 doubled deep into the throat as in the Wood- 

 peckers, and at the tip it is fringed on each 

 side with a few horny hairs or processes. By 

 means of this tongue the animal absorbs the 

 sweet juice or nectar at the bottom of flowers, 

 and always feeds on the wing, stretching out its 



