THE SLENDER-BILLED PERCHERS. 



257 



erect or depress at pleasure. The length of the bird is fifteen 

 inches ; the bill is two inches and a half long, slender and incur- 

 vated. Its noble crest consists of two rows of feathers, the highest 

 about two inches long; the tips are black, the lower part of a pale 

 orange color ; the neck is of a pale reddish brown ; the breast and 



belly white ; the lesser coverts of the wing are of a light brown ; 

 the back and wings crossed with broad bars of white and black ; 

 the rump is snow-white ; and the tail consists of ten white feathers, 

 marked with black in the form of a crescent. The legs are short 

 and black. This beautiful, yet filthy bird, was forbidden to be 

 eaten by the Levitical law. 



Humming Birds. — ^These little living gems are exclusively 

 found in the New World, especially about the tropics, becoming 

 gradually scarcer as we recede in either direction. Only two 

 species are known to exist in the northern pai't of the Continent, 

 but in the central portions and in the islands about Florida they 

 absolutely swarm. They glance about in the sunshine, looking 

 like streaks of brilliant light, and so rapid is the vibration of their 

 fine and elastic wings, that when hovering over a flower, a hum- 



22* R 



