38 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS.—CLASS Il. AVES. 
in powers of flight ; their long and narrow wings are admirably adapted for 
aerial progression. The quill feathers are stiff, firm, and elastic, and fur- 
nished with rigid shafts, in some instances singularly developed. The tail 
is variable. The plumage is close and compact, and resembles an arrange- 
ment of fishes’ scales, glittering, in the males, with metallic lustre. The 
tarsi are very small and short; and the toes, three before and one behind, 
are very delicate. The ground is never their resting-place: they perch on 
slender twigs, but are mostly seen on the wing. 
The beak is long and slender, but very variable in its form, being straight, 
curved, and, in some species, even turned up. The tongue is long, bifid, or 
split into two filaments, tubular, and capable of being darted out to a con- 
siderable distance. As in the woodpeckers, it is the principal instrument 
by means of which they obtain their food, viz., insects of various kinds, and 
the nectar of flowers ; and it is protruded by the same arrangement of the 
cartilaginous continuation of the os hyotdes winding round the skull to the 
forehead. With respect to the tongue itself, Lesson describes it as com- 
posed of two musculo-fibrous cylinders, soldered to each other so as to 
resemble, in some degree, a double-barrelled gun; but these tubes towards 
the tip become separated and enlarged, each presenting a little blade, which 
is concave within, and conyex externally. In order that this tubular tongue 
may be projected upon the aliments, which its terminations are appointed to 
seize and retain, the os hyotdes, which supports it, is formed of two bony 
plates or straps, which separate, pass below the cranium, reascend over the 
bones of the occiput, and proceed to form a point of resistance or fulerum 
by their reunion on the forehead. The result of this disposition, when 
brought into play by the muscles of the tongue, is a great power over the. 
muscular tubes which compose the organ of taste. The two small blades, 
of elongated, spoon-like termination, seize the insects or lick up the honeyed 
exudations, which are on the instant carried to the aperture of the cesoph- 
agus by the elasticity and contractility of the two tubes, and forthwith swal- 
lowed. The long and slender bill comes in admirably in aiding to insert the 
tongue in the nectary of flowers. 
These gorgeous birds are all natives of America, and that great archi- 
pelago of islands between Florida and the mouth of the Orinoco, together 
with the mainland of the Southern Continent until it passes the Tropic of 
Capricorn, literally swarms with them. In the wild and uncultivated parts, 
they inhabit those forests of magnificent timber, overhung with /éanas and 
the superb tribe of Bignonacee, the huge trunks clothed with a rich drapery 
of parasites, whose blossoms vie in tints, if not in brilliancy, with their 
winged riflers. In the cultivated parts, they abound in the gardens, and 
seem to delight in society, becoming very familiar ; feeling confidence in their 
