3M KIRPS OF INDIA. 



they creep ?ome-\v]iat like Woodpeckers. They have a louci 

 chattering note, are restless in their habits, andliave a disagreeable 

 sinell. Falculia and Fregilupus are placed by some as a distinct 

 &ub -family. 



The remaining families of the Tenuirostres are the Humming- 

 birds, the Honey-eaters, and the Paradise-birds. The Humming- 

 birds, TKOCHiLiDiE, are the gems of the feathered creation, the 

 smallest and the most lovely of all. Their bill is very slender, of 

 various length and curvature ; the ^Yings are long and pointed, the 

 quills sometimes of great strength ; the tail of ten feathers, usually 

 short and nearly even, lengthened and forked in some; the tarsus 

 is short and feeble, and the toes are small. They are often adorned 

 with various ornamental tufts of feathers, like the Birds of Para- 

 dise, and some of the EpimachiiKB ; and the feathers are frequently 

 scale-like, with metallic lustre. 



In their anatomy they resemble the Swifts, having a similarly 

 formed sternum, without any notch behind, a small gizzard, no 

 csDca; and their body-feathers possess the supplementary plume ; 

 but they differ from the CypselidcB by having a complicated inferior 

 laryx,* and their toes are composed of the usual number of 

 phalanges. The tongue is formed of two filaments, and is capable 

 of protrusion, like that of the Woodpeckers; in some it is furnished 

 near the tip with retroverted spines. 



The Humming-birds are found only in America, and chiefly in 

 the tropical regions, often at great elevations. They feed on 

 the nectar of flowers, and also on flies and other small insects that 

 harbour in flowers, some (it is said) seizing them in the air. They 

 build a neat and delicate nest, of various soft materials, upon 

 branches or leaves, and lay almost invariably two white eggs. 



Mr. Gould has just completed a magnificent monograph of this 

 group, which now numbers above 400 species. 



The MELLiPHAGiDyE, or Honey-eaters, of Australia and neigh- 

 bouring islands, form a well marked group, distinguished by the long 



* The largest of the Humming-birds, Paiagona ffiffos, has a simple vocal ap- 

 paratus, with only the ordinary sterno-tracheal long tendinous muscles. 



