THE SUN-BIRDS 375 



plumage, the calaos are almost entirely decked with a robe 

 black as that of the raven, and enhancing the beautiful red 

 and orange colours of their colossal beak. Grenerally con- 

 gregating in small troops like the toucans, they inhabit the 

 dense forests, where they chiefly live on fruits, seeds, and 

 insects, which they also swallow whole, throwing them up 

 into the air and catching them as they fall. The clapping 

 together of their mandibles causes a loud and peculiar noise, 

 which towards evening interrupts the silence of the forest. 

 The flight of a bird burdened with such a load must naturally 

 be short : they hop upon their thick clumsy feet, and generally 

 roost upon the highest trees. 



The brilliant Sun-birds or Suimangas (Cinnyyns), belonging 

 to the order of the Certhias or creepers, are the Colibris of the 

 old world, equally ethereal, gay, and sprightly in their motions, 

 flitting briskly from flower to flower, and assuming a thousand 

 lively and agreeable attitudes. As the sunbeams glitter on their 

 bodies, they sparkle like so many gems. As they hover about 

 the honey-laden blossoms, they vibrate rapidly their tiny pinions, 

 producing in the air a slight whirring sound, but not so loud as 

 the humming noise produced by the wings of the colibris. 

 Thrusting their slender beaks into the deep-cupped flowers, 

 they probe them with their brushlike tongues for insects and 

 nectar. Some are emerald green, some vivid violet, others 

 yellow with a crimson wing, and rivalling the colibris by the 

 metallic lustre of their plumage, they surpass them by their 

 musical powers, for while the latter can only hum, the sun-birds 

 accompany their movements with an agreeable chirp. 



The nearly-related Melithreptes, or Honey-eaters of the South 

 Sea Islands, distinguished by a very long curved beak, and a 

 tongue split into two slender filaments, furnish the chief orna- 

 ments of the Polynesian kings and chieftains. Thus the famous 

 royal mantle of Tamehameha the Grreat is completely covered 

 with the golden plumage of the Melithreptes pacificus, and as 

 this not very common brown-coloured bird has only three or 

 four yellow feathers in each wing, it may easily be conceived 

 that the most costly brocades of Lyons are far from equalling 

 in value this splendid robe of state, which is no less than ten 

 feet long and seven feet broad. Even the small diadems made 

 of the feathers of this bird, which are worn by the ladies of rank 



