THE ENGLISH SPABIiOW 



401 



barbed, protrusible tongue aids in removing the prey. Our 

 commonest woodpeckers are the golden-winged woodpecker, 

 or flicker,! the red-headed woodpecker, the hairy woodpecker, 

 and the downy woodpecker. An interesting question con- 

 cerning the golden-wingetl woodpeckers of the East and South- 

 west is whether they 



hybridize where their ^«^ ,\j3 



areas of chstribution over- 

 lap. 



The " long- wings " in- 

 clude the humming-birds, 

 swifts, and goat-suckers. 

 The humming-birds are 

 mostly small species, 

 limited to our hemisphere, 

 and characteristic of the 

 tropics. They fill the 

 same place among the 

 birds that hawk-moths do 

 among insects, in so far as 



they are fitted to visit Fig. 368. — Ruby-throated humming-bird 



trumpet-shaped flowers. (TroMus coiubri.). 



They do not feed solely upon nectar, but devour in- 

 sects also. They are usually firilliantly colored, and i\y 

 with great swiftness, nest in trees, and lay onlj' two white 

 eggs. One species, the ruby-throated humming-bird, reaches 

 New England and Canada (Fig. 368). 



The swifts have a Inroad gape, and no bristles at the base of 

 the bill. They have habits much like swallows, and are found 

 especially in the warm parts of the world. Most species of this 



1 Fig. 367. 

 2d 



