185 



FAMILY XXIV.— TROCHILINtE. HUMMING-BIRDS. 



Bill long, very slender, straight or arched, somewhat depressed at the 

 base, subcylindrical, flexible, acute. Head rather large; neck of moderate 

 length; body moderately robust. Feet very short, rather stout; tarsus 

 extremely short; toes of moderate size; the anterior coherent at the base, 

 and nearly of equal length, the hind toe articulated high on the tarsus; claws 

 rather long, arched, much compressed, very acute. Plumage compact above, 

 soft and blended beneath, often with metallic lustre; wings very long, 

 extremely narrow, falciform, with the first quill longest, the other primaries 

 rapidly diminishing; secondaries extremely short. Tail various, of ten 

 feathers. Tongue very long, slender, with two fiat, thin-edged terminal 

 filaments, and extensile by means of the elongation of the hyoid bones, 

 which curve over the head to the fore part of the forehead, and with their 

 muscles slide in a groove, like those of the Woodpeckers. (Esophagus 

 narrow, considerably enlarged about the middle; stomach extremely small, 

 roundish, moderately muscular, its epithelium dense and longitudinally 

 rugous; intestine very short and of moderate width; no cceca; cloaca 

 globular. Trachea simple, but divided very high up on the neck, so that 

 the bronchi are of excessive length, with a large pair of inferior laryngeal 

 muscles. 



Genus I.— TROCHILUS, Linn. HUMMING-BIRD. 



Bill long, subulate, depressed at the base, cylindrical, straight, or slightly 

 arched, flexible; upper mandible with the ridge narrow at the base, convex 

 in the rest of its extent, the sides sloping, the edges soft; lower mandible 

 with the angle extremely acute and elongated, the sides erect, the tip acute. 

 Nostrils linear, with a membranous flap above. Head small; neck short; 

 body moderately stout. Feet very short; middle toe scarcely longer than 

 the rest. Plumage rather blended and glossy above. Wings very long, 

 extremely narrow; tail rather long, broad, nearly even. The other charac- 

 ters as above. 



Vol. IV. 26 



