ORDER PASSERES. 393 



tongue out of the bill, according to the degree of depth of 

 which the bird has need to attain, for the purpose of finding 

 its favourite nutriment. 



The souimangas have a cheerful song, and possess much 

 vivacity. They are fond of the society of their consimilars. 

 They all construct nests, and some of them in the hollows of 

 trees. They are known at the Cape by the name of blom- 

 suyger (flower-suckers). 



One of them (Cinnyris Lotenius) makes its nest on trees, 

 between the branches of which it fixes it horizontally. Its 

 form is hemispherical and concave, and it is composed almost 

 entirely of the down of plants. The female lays five or six 

 eggs, but it is not unusual for her to be driven from the nest 

 by a sort of spider, as large as herself, which sucks the blood 

 of the young. 



As for the rest of this tribe, there is nothing to be said of 

 them, except in the way of description, from which our plan 

 precludes us. 



The figure of the long-hilled souimanga is from M. Tem- 

 minck's works. For the specific characters we refer to the 

 table. It is the Prit-andun of Java. 



Passing the Aeachnotheres, respecting which there are 

 no details of interest, we proceed to the HumivkJi r* jjirds. 



These are generally natives of the hottest |V ts of South 

 America, and mostly confined between the trop.cs. Such as 

 remove from thence, only sojourn in the te'japerate zones 

 during summer. They follow the sun— advancing and 

 retiring with him. Of two species which are found in North 

 America, one penetrates into Canada, aiyi the other to the 

 North-west, as far as 54° 12' n. lat., wh^e it has been met by 

 Mackenzie. Those of South America do not proceed so far 

 from the tropics. M. D'Azara tells us that they do not pass 

 35° s. lat. and many of them are sedentary at Buenos Ayres. « 



It seems certain that none of these birds are found in any 

 part of the Old Continent, nor yet in Australasia, or Polynesia. 



