OF NEW ENGLAND. 801 
off twigs for their nests without any diminution of speed. It is 
almost unnecessary to say that they feed entirely upon winged 
insects, the indigestible parts of which they are said to dis- 
gorge in pellets. 
The Chimney Swifts may easily be distinguished from the 
true swallows by their, peculiar and more rapid flight, their 
long wings, and their apparent want of tail (as seen from a 
distancé). They sometimes skim over water, but more often 
fly at a considerable or even a very great height. 
(d). Their only note is a.loud chip, often repeated quickly 
and vehemently, so as to bear a resemblance to the twittering 
of the swallows. Their young, who are born blind, have a 
much feebler voice. 
§ 22. The Trochilids (or hummingbirds) are in North 
America represented only by the typical subfamily, Trochilincee 
(while the other group, “Pheethornithine, representing about 
one-tenth of the whole, is composed of duller colored species 
especially inhabiting the dense forests of the Amazon”). The 
Ruby-throated Hummingbird is an excellent type of the group. 
The bill is very long and slender, being of a nearly equal depth 
throughout; the feet are small; the wings long and with ten 
primaries ; the tail is ten-feathered. 
The Alcedinide (or kingfishers, § 23) are in America repre- 
sented. fragmentarily by the subfamily Cerylinw. They differ 
strikingly from all the families to which they are allied by po- 
sition in classification. The common Belted Kingfisher is a 
good type. The bill is stout and pointed, about one-fourth as 
deep as long; the tarsi are extremely short; the feet small, 
and syndactyle from the union of the outer and middle toes 
nearly throughout (pl. 1, fig. 24) ;2 primaries ten, but tail- 
feathers twelve. 
The Coccygine (or American cuckoos) form a distinct sub- 
family of the large and much varied family, Cuculide (or 
cuckoos, § 24). They are quite closely related to some of the 
2In many other birds the toes are partly united at the’ base. 
