PASSERIN.E. 



207 



The naine Guit-guit is applied to certain small species, the males of which have vivid colours. Their tonp:ue is 

 bilid and lilanieiitous. Cert/iia ci/aneay Tern., and O. Cccndea, Edwards, are American examples, to which we add 

 some euHtern species, most of which are red, — the Ccercha, Vieillot. 



We may separate, however, the largest and least handsome of them, wherein the tonii-iie is short and cartila- 

 fi-inous ; as the Merops rufa-s of Spix, which constiiicts a nest upon shrubs, arched over like an ovl-u, and of whicli 

 M. Temniinck forms his genus Opeliurht/nckug, and M. Vieillot his Furnarius. The Figulos of Spix does 

 not dilfer. 



DiCEUM, Cliv. 



The members of this group also do not climb, nor employ the tail : their arched and pointed beak, 

 longer than the head, is depressed and widened at its base. 

 They inhabit the East Indies, are veiy small, and have g-cnerally some scarlet on their plumajje. 



In 



Melithreptus, Vieillot, — 



The tail is also not used, and the beak is extremely elongated, and curved almost to a semicircle. They 

 inhabit the South-sea Islands. 



One species {CertMa vesfiaria, Shaw) is covered with scarlet feathers, of which the natives of the Sandwich 

 Isles manufacture the beautiful mantles of that colour, which are so highly prized. 



The Sun-b[rd3 {Cinnyri.H, Cnv.) — 

 Do not lean on the tail ; the edges of their long and very slender beak are finely serrated ; the tongue, 

 which is capalde of protrusion, terminates in a little fork. They are small birds, the males of which 

 have most brilliant metallic colours during the season of propagation, approaching the Humming- 

 birds in beauty ; of which, in this respect, they are the representatives in the Eastern Continent, 

 being found principally in Africa and the Indian Archipelago. They subsist on the nectar of flowers, 

 which tliey suck up ; are of a lively disposition, and sing agreeably. Tlieir beauty renders them a great 

 ornament in our cabinets; hut the garb of the female sex, and of the male in winter, is so diiferent 

 that the species are not easy to characterize. 



In some, the tail is even ; in others, its two middle feathers are elongated in the males ; and sonr,e are distin- 

 guished by a straight beak, or nearly so. [In most of the true Cinnyridci;, the lateral tuft uf feathers, so enor- 

 mously developed in the Birds of Paradise, exists, of small size]. 



The Spider-catchers {ArachnotJieres, Tem.) — 

 Have the same long, arcuated I)eak, as the Sun-birds, but stronger and not dentelated ; their tongue is 

 short and cartilaginous, and the known species inhabit the Indian Aixhipelago, where they hve on 

 Spiders. 



After all these distinctions, there are still other birds that should be separated from the great genus 

 Certhia, some of which are merely riiiledons, with the characters of that genus more developed. 



The Humming-birds {Trochilus, Lin.). 

 These diminutive birds, so celebrated for the metallic lustre of their plumage, and partieidarly 

 for the scale-hke featliers, briUiant as gems, which offer a peculiar structure, have a long slender beak, 

 inclosing a tongue capable of protrusion upon the same principle as that of the Woodpeckers, and which 

 is split, almost to its base, into two filaments, employed, as is asserted, in sucking up the nectar of 

 flowers. They also, however, feed on small insects, for we have found their stomach filled with them. 

 Their very small feet, great tail, excessively elongated and narrow wings, and their very large sternum 



(fig. 95) without posterior eraargination, combine to produce a 

 mode of flight similar to that of the Swifts, besides which the Hum- 

 ming-birds balance themselves in the air by a rapid motion of the 

 wings, like many Flies. It is thus they hifm about flowering 

 shrubs and plants, and fly more rapidly than any other bird. Their 

 gizzard is very small, and they have no cceca, in wdiich they ap- 

 proximate the Woodpeckers. They Uve singly, defend their nests 

 with courage [attacking, with their needle-like bills, the eyes of 

 an intruder, which renders these minute creatures truly formida- 

 ble], and fight with one another desperately. 



