

Number of Hummingbirds 557 



in the upturned bill of the nestling, pushing it down into the stomach, until it 

 would seem that its sharp point would pierce the youngster through and through. 

 Holding the bill in this position for some moments, the throat of the old bird 

 can be seen working in a way quite suggesting a pump. The food seemed to be 

 more or less prepared and perhaps partially digested by the parent bird and then 

 "pumped" into the young one. 



Number of Species. According to the latest authorities this vast assem- 

 blage embraces about five hundred and eighty species and subspecies, disposed 

 among some hundred and twenty-five genera, and although there are notable 

 differences in size, plumage, and coloration, the structural characters are so 

 generally uniform that it is practically impossible to separate them into 

 trenchant groups. Mr. Osbert Salvin, who elaborated the family for the 

 British Museum " Catalogue of Birds," divides them into three not very sharply 

 circumscribed groups or sections, on the prominence, indistinct development, 

 or absence of serrations on the sheath of the maxilla. 



The habits of Hummingbirds are relatively uniform throughout the group, 

 although it must be confessed the life history of very many forms is still 

 unknown, and hence a complete account of the group could be little 

 more than a succession of pen-pictures of plumage; it is manifestly im- 

 possible in the present connection to do more than select a few examples, 

 especially when it is borne in mind that the technical descriptions alone fill more 

 than four hundred pages in the Catalogue above mentioned. I have, therefore, 

 ventured to quote extensively from the charming account given by Mr. Robert 

 Ridgway in his exhaustive paper on "The Hummingbirds": 



"Among the half-thousand species of Hummingbirds, the diversity of plumage 

 as well as form is very great. It will not be practical, therefore, to do more in 

 the way of describing particular kinds than to select those which are most con- 

 spicuous in this respect. Before proceeding to do so, it may be well to explain 

 that in a large majority of cases ornamentation is confined to the males alone, 

 the females being as a rule devoid of refulgent hues and ornamental plumes, and 

 therefore much more like one another than those of the opposite sex. Occa- 

 sionally, however, the sexes are alike in color, or, at least, not essentially different. 

 In only one species, the Mango Hummingbird (Lampornis mango) of Jamaica, 

 is the female more beautiful than the male, having, in addition to the colors 

 possessed by the latter, a brightly colored throat patch. As a rather remarkable 

 coincidence, it may be mentioned that the largest and smallest species of the 

 family, Patagona gigas and Mellisuga minima, are among the most plainly 

 colored of all, with little difference between the sexes. 



Marvelous Hummingbird. Perhaps the most remarkable of Humming- 

 birds, though more distinguished for the extraordinary development of its tail- 

 feathers than for brilliancy of plumage, is the Marvelous Hummingbird (Lod- 

 digesia mirabilis) of Peru. Its coloration, while not conspicuous for brilliancy 

 in such a brilliant coterie, is nevertheless very pretty : crown, azure blue ; back, 

 golden green; tail, violet-black; and lower parts pure white -with a gorget of 

 emerald-green bordered on each side by a line of coppery red. 



