300 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
fossa absent; tibial bridge present; flexor tendons of type Va; syrinx tracheal; 
bill short and broadly tuiungular, the gape deeply cleft; nostrils opening ver- 
tically, close together, uenvperculate; tongue not extensile; secondaries 8-11; 
alular feathers 2-3; frontal apterium wanting; femoral pteryle large, separated 
from dorsal pteryla ; aftershaft large..........------+---+-+ Micropodii (p. 681). 
Superfamily TROCHILI. 
THE HUMMING BIRDS. 
=Suspensi IntigeR, Prodr. Orn., 1811, 209. 
=Trochili Waaurr, Nat. Syst. Amph., Sdugth. und Végel, 1830, 82.—SrEBonM, 
Classif. Birds, 1890, pp. vii, xi, 5SHarre, Rev. Classif. Birds, 1891, 81; 
Hand-list, ii, 1900, 97. 
Small to extremely small Macrochires with slender bill, extensile 
tongue, lateral, operculate nostrils, schizognathous palate, eight pairs 
of ribs, alula absent or, when present, composed of a single feather, 
and not more than seven secondaries. 
MetaSternum entire, convex, the carina sterna greatly developed; 
humero-coracoid fossa present; cervical heamapophyses “‘U=’’; flexor 
tendons of type Vc; toes anisodactylous, the front plantar leading 
to the three anterior toes, the hind plantar leading to the hallux, the 
feet relatively very small; a frontal apterium; femoral pteryle small, 
connected with the dorsal pteryla; aftershaft (Gf present) small or 
rudimentary; adult downs (if present) on apteria only. 
Family TROCHILIDA. 
THE HUMMING BIRDS. 
=Trochilide Vicors, Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., 1825, 468.—Capanis, in Wieg- 
mann’s Archiv fir Naturg., 1847, pt. i, 345.—Bonaparte, Consp. Av., i, 
1849, 67.—CaBanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., iii, 1860, 3.—FUrBRincer, 
Unters. Morph. Syst. Vég., ii, 1888, 1381, 1382.—Suarre, Hand-list, ii, 
1900, 97. 
As mostly additional to the characters given above under the 
heading of Superfamily Trochili, the following may be mentioned: 
Palate schizognathous; nares holorhinal; neck very long, forming 
four-sevenths of the vertebral column; three free dorsal vertebra, 
succeeded by a sacrum of twelve fused vertebra, terminated by six 
caudal vertebre; bones supporting the tail provided with long 
recurved processes ‘‘to furnish ample attachment for the well- 
defined caudal muscles;” eight pairs of ribs, the first three pairs 
joined to the three free dorsal vertebra, the succeeding four pairs 
attached to the first four vertebrae of the sacral series, the eighth 
pair entirely free at upper end; coracoids peculiar, the usual notch 
in upper end being bridged over, forming a perforation through 
which the tendon from muscles that raise the wing play securely; 
sternum relatively very large, with keel extremely deep, the meta- 
sternum strongly convex and entire; bill slender, usually subulate, 
