THE TROPIC-BIRD — THE TODY. 349 



The Tanager touch'd with much feeling his lute; 

 The diminutive Tody ( 27 ) was there in green suit. 



pointed bill, the gape of the mouth reaching beyond ; nostrils 

 oblong ; hind toe turned forward. The chief are as follow : 



The Mthereus, or Common-Tropic-Bird, has the head, 

 neck, and beneath white; back, rump, and less wing-feathers, 

 streaked with white, mixed with black ; two middle tail fea- 

 thers black at the base; bill three inches long; size of a widgeon, 

 yet its length, with the tail, two feet ten inches ; flies very high ; 

 feeds on fishes ; often seen on the backs of tortoises ; seldom 

 on land, except at breeding time ; inhabits the tropics. Two 

 other varieties. 



"Though faster than the tropic-bird they flew." 



Grainger's Sugar Cane, Book iii. 



The Melanorhynchos , or Black-eilled-Tropic-Bird, has 

 the bill black; is above streaked with black and white; be- 

 neath white; nineteen and a half inches long; inhabits Fal- 

 merston and Turtle islands. 



The Phcenicurus, or Red-tailed-Tropic-Bird, is of a rosy 

 flesh-colour; bill red; length two feet ten inches, of which the 

 two middle tail feathers, which are red, measure one foot nine 

 inches ; builds in hollows in the ground, under trees ; eggs 

 two, yellowish-white, with rufous spots. Inhabits the Mauritius 

 island. 



( 27 ; Order, Pic^e, {Linn.) Tody, the Green, the King, &c. 



The genus Todus, {Linn.) or Tody, consists of nearly thirty 

 species, mostly inhabiting the warmer parts of America ; they 

 have a subulate, depressed, obtuse, straight bill, covered at the 

 base with bristles; feet gressorial ; this tribe are nearly allied 

 to the fly-catchers, but have the middle and outer toes much 

 connected, which in the fly-catchers are divided at the base. 

 The chief are the following : — 



The Viridis, otGreen-Tody, Green-Sparrow, Green-Humming- 



