147 



Distinctions. Size; slender bill (Figure 40, p. 25); and metallic coloration are 

 distinctive. 



Nesting. In a beautiful structure covered with bits of lichens and cobwebs, saddled 

 on the top of a branch. 



Distribution. Eastern North America north to the limits of present cultivation. 



Hummingbirds fly forwards, backwards, sideways, or remain per- 

 fectly stationary in the air with equal ease — another instance of parallel 

 development — a bird flying like an insect yet in structure strictly bird-like. 

 The wings vibrate with a rapidity that can only be measured by the tuning 

 fork method used with insects. This system of flight is fundamentally 

 different in method from that of other birds and consequently the wings 

 differ from the usual type. They are long, narrow, non-flexible, and the 

 keel of the sternum is immensely deepened to give support to the great 

 muscles that move them. In proportion to its wing spread a Humming- 

 bird has a breast keel nearly three times larger than that of a pigeon, a bird 

 of average flight, or forty times larger than that of an albatross. 



Economic Status. When it is remembered that some of the smallest 

 insect pests are the most destructive, we can realize that possibly the 

 economic importance of the Hummingbird may be greater than suspected. 

 Besides nectar, its food seems to be composed of small flies, gnats, minute 

 bees, wasps, and other flower-haunting and pollen-eating forms. Appa- 

 rently no harm can be charged against the species and it may do good out 

 of all proportion to its size. 



Order — Passeres. Perching Birds. 



The order Passeres, Passerine or Perching Birds, is the largest and 

 most important division of modern birds. The lower and more generalized 

 types of birds have in the past been in the ascendant; but to-day the 

 highly specialized Passeres are dominant; they constitute nearly if not 

 quite half of our present living forms and are put at the head of the classi- 

 fication by systematists. They have a greater number than any other 

 order,of characters that are common to themselves but special in relation 

 to other orders, for instance, the highly developed larynx or singing organ, 

 with complicated muscular control and many other special characters. 

 Generally, a bird may be referred to this order by a process of elimination, 

 as not belonging to any of the previous orders. The feet (Figure 42, p. 25) 

 are not webbed, the hind toe is as long as the middle one, and the whole foot 

 is well adapted for perching. The bill is hard and horny, without cere or 

 soft base, and the nostrils do not communicate with each other as in some 

 of the other orders. Two suborders are represented in Canada : Calmatores, 

 the Songless Perchers; and seines, the Song Birds. 



SUBORDER— CLAMATORES. SONGLESS PERCHERS. 



This suborder is constituted upon a basis of anatomical structure. 

 The name Songless Percher is not intended to indicate that the birds are 

 silent, but that they are less tuneful than the Oscines, with a larynx less 

 highly specialized. Only one family of this suborder occurs in Canada, the 

 Tyrannidce or Tyrant Flycatchers, 



