74 THE HUMMING-BIRD. 



beneath the web, and enter the various labyrinths 

 and cells, taking care to make good their retreat, if 

 the spider sallied forth to repel them. In ascending 

 some of the spider's fly-traps, great skill and care 

 were required; sometimes the bird had scarcely 

 room for his little wings to spread, and the least 

 mismanagement would have insnared him in the 

 meshes of the web, and insured his destruction. It 

 was only the outworks of the comparatively small 

 spiders, of about his own size, that the Humming- 

 bird durst attack, as the larger sort rushed out in 

 defence of their property, when the robber would 

 shoot off like a sunbeam, and could be only traced, 

 like an electric spark, by the luminous glow of its 

 refulgent colours. 



TABLE XIV. (See vol. i., p. 16.) 



CONTAINS the third order, consisting of birds with 

 two toes before and two behind, for the purpose of 

 climbing. This order is subdivided into two tribes, 

 distinguished by the form and character of their 

 beaks: the cuneiform, or wedge-shaped, being small, 

 and not toothed or indented ; and the levirostral or 

 light-beaks, which are indented more or less, and, 

 though in general large, are of a lighter and thinner 

 substance. 



TABLE XV. (See vol. i., p. 17.) 

 Order 2. , Tribe 1. CUNEIROSTRAL, (Wedge-billed.) 



OF the five genera included in this tribe, the 

 Cuckoos, Woodpeckers, and Wrynecks, are found 

 in England. The remaining two, viz., Jacamars and 



