286 BIRDS. 
the long and very slender bill, finely serrate; the tongue, which is sus- 
ceptible of protrusion, terminates in a little fork. They are small birds, 
the males of which, during the pairing season, are ornamented with me- 
tallic colours, approaching in lustre to those of the Humming-bird, of 
which, in this respect, they are the representatives in the eastern conti- 
nent, they being principally found in Africa and the Archipelago of India. 
They live on the nectar of flowers, which they suck up with their bills; 
their disposition is lively, and their notes very agreeable. The beauty of 
their plumage has made them a common ornament of our cabinets, but as 
it is very different in both sexes during the winter, &c., it becomes an ex- 
tremely difficult matter to characterize the species. 
The tail, in most of them, is equal*. 
In some, the two middle feathers are the longest in the male}. 
We may also distinguish those which have a straight bill, or one 
that is nearly sot. 
ARACHNOTHERA, T'emm. 
The long and arcuated bill of the Cinnyris, but stronger, and without 
emargination; the tongue short and cartilaginous; they are only found in 
the Archipelago of India, and feed on spiders§. 
Trocuitus, Lin. 
The Colibris, or Humming-birds, so celebrated for the metallic lustre 
of their plumage, and chiefly for those plates, brilliant as precious stones, 
which are formed by scaly feathers of a peculiar structure, on their throat 
or head, have a long slender bill, enclosing a tongue, which they can pro- 
* Certh. splendida, Sh. Vieill. 82;—C. caffra, Edw. 347;—C. superba. Vieill. 22:— 
C. lotenia, Enl. 575, 2, 3, Vieill. 34;—ametystina, Vieill. 5 and 6;—chalybea, Enl. 
246, 3, Vieill. 10, 18, 18, 24, 34, 80:—omnicolor, Seb. I, 69, 5;—cuprea, Vieill. 23 ;— 
purpurata, Edw. 265, Vieill. 11;—cyanocephala, Vieill. 7;—Z. xeilonica, Enl. 576, 4, 
Vieill. 29, 30;—dubia, Vieill. 81;—senegalensis, Vieill. 8 ;—sperata, Enl. 246, 1, 2; 
Vieill. 16, 32, of which the lepida of Sparm. 35, is the female;—madagascariensis, 
Vieill. 18;—currucaria, Enl. 576, 3, Vieill. 31;—rubro-fusca, Vieill. 27 ;—fuliginosa, 
Vieill. 20;—meaculata, Vieill. 21;—venusta, Vieill. 79;—gutturalis, 578, 9;— Nectari- 
nia solaris, Tem. Col. 341, 3;—eximia, Tem. Col. 138, 1, 2;—~pectoralis, id. Col. 138, 
3;—lepida, Lath. Col. 126, 1, and Vieill. Gal. 177, 2;—Hasselti, T. Col. 376, 3;— 
coccinogaster, Tem. Col. 388, 3;—Cinn. eques, Less. and Garn. Voy. de la Coq. pl. 
xxxi, f. 1;— javanica, Zool. Ill. 121; some of which birds are probably mere varieties 
of the others. 
{ Certhia famosa, L., Enl. 88, 1;—C. pulchella, Enl. 670, 1;—C. violacea, 670, 2; 
the Sucrier cardinal, Vaill. Ap. 291;—the Suerier figuier, Id. 293, f. 2;—Nectarinia 
metallica, Licht. Ruppel. pl. vii, and Col. 347, 1;—Nect. mystacalis, T, Col. 126, 3;— 
N. Kuhlii, T, Col. 376, 1, 2. 
t Cinnyris elegans, Vieill. Gal. 177, or Certh. rectirostris, Id. Ois. Dor. II, pl. 
Ixxv. 
§ Arachnothera longirostra, Tem. Col. 84, 1;—A. inornata, Id. Ib. 2. 
N. B. After all these distinctions, we have still to remove from the great genus 
Crertuia, the C. lunata, Vieill. 61;—C. Nove-Hollandiae, J. White, New S. W. pl. 
xvi and Ixv; Vieill. 57 and 71;—C. australasiana, Vieill. 55;—C. carunculata, Vieill. 
69, 70;—C. auriculata, Vieill. 85;—C. cocincinica, Enl. 642; Vieill. 77, 78;—C. spiza, 
Enl. 578, 2, Edw. 25;—C. seniculus, Vieill. 50;—C. graculina, Vieill. 87;—C. goruck, 
Vieill. 88;—C. cerulea, Vieill. 83;—C. xanthotis, Vieill. 84;—C. mellivora, Vieill. 86; 
which, by their emarginated bill and pencil-like tongue, are all Philedons. 
