ORNITHOLOGY. 



589 



Insessores. The European species, called by us the wall-creeper (T. 



*>""~V*"< phcenicoptera, Temm., — Certhia muraria, Gmel.), inhabits 

 the southern countries of Europe, where it dwells among 

 lofty and precipitous rocks. It is well known among the 

 Swiss Alps, and the mountainous parts of Spain and Italy, 

 where it is said to prey much on spiders and their eggs. 



In the genus Nectarinia of Illiger, the bill is arched, 

 pointed, and compressed, resembling that of the creepers, 

 with which the species were so long conjoined ; but they 

 do not climb, and their habits, if the name is properly 

 applied, are not so much insectivorous as honey-sucking. 

 They are all exotic. The term guit-guit is given by the 

 French to certain small species, of which the plumage of 

 the males is very rich and lustrous. Their tongue is bifid 

 and filamentary. Such are Certhia cyanea, cerulea, &c. 

 Some species of larger size and less adorned plumage, and 

 of which the tongue is short and cartilaginous, have been 

 separated from the others. Such is a South American 

 species, the Merops rufus of Gmelin, as large as a night- 

 ingale, of a reddish colour above, the throat whitish. It 

 constructs a covered nest, and serves as the type of Tem- 

 minck's genus Opetiorhynchus. 1 



The genus Dicsum of Cuv. has the bill longer than the 

 head, sharp, curved, depressed, and broadened at the 

 base. The species are of small size, and usually ornament- 

 ed with portions of scarlet. They are natives of the East 

 Indies. InMELiTHREPTiis ofVieillot, the bill is extreme- 

 ly long, and curved almost into a semicircle. Of this form 

 the hook-biiled creeper, Certhia vestiaria, Shaw, affords a 

 good example. (Plate CCCXCIII. fig. 2.) It is a native of 

 the Sandwich Islands, where it is much valued on account 

 of its plumage, which affords the principal material in the 

 formation of those gorgeous scarlet mantles worn by chiefs 

 and persons of distinction. 



The souimangas (a Madagascar name, signifying sugar 

 eaters, genus Cinnyris, Cuv.) have the bill long, slender, 

 and finely toothed along the edges. The tongue is capa- 

 ble of considerable extension, and terminates in a small 

 bifurcation. The species are widely dispersed over all the 

 southern regions of the old world (Africa, the Indian 

 Archipelago, &c), and seem in those countries to represent 

 the beautiful humming-birds of the western world. Indeed 

 these tribes greatly resemble each other both in form and 

 habits. The souimangas are subject to a double moult, 

 which occasions a considerable diversity in the plumage 

 even of the same species, according to the season of the 

 year ; and hence our knowledge of this, as of several other 

 sumptuous groups, though sufficiently voluminous, is pro- 

 bably not yet remarkable for its accuracy. Several splen- 

 did works, however, have been devoted, either in whole or 

 in part, to its illustration. 2 The nuptial plumage is remark- 

 able for its golden lustre, and the richness and variety of 

 its innumerable iridescent hues ; but after the termina- 

 tion of the breeding season, a much more humble garb is 

 assumed, and many a bizarre appearance is presented by 

 the intermediate links of that changeable costume which 

 connects the holiday-suit of spring with the more quaker- 

 like attire of autumn. Hence the difficulty of distinguish- 

 ing in many birds, between a specific difference and an in- 

 dividual variation, more especially where foreign species 

 are concerned ; for in such instances we have seldom a 

 prolonged opportunity of verifying our observations on ex- 

 ternal characters, by an examination of natural habits and 

 instinctive modes of life. Yet it is only by ascertaining 



the uniformity presented by all these circumstances in alnsessoree. 

 variety of individuals, that we are enabled to trace out the^— "v~ — ' 

 exact limits of specific identity. Several species of Cinnyris 

 occur in India, but the greater proportion are of African 

 origin, and may be said to form the most signal and ad- 

 mired feature in the Ornithology of that country. 



In the greater number the tail is equal. Of these we may 

 name the superb creeper ( C.si/perba), described and figured 

 in the magificent work of M. Vieillot. Its length is six 

 inches ; the crown of the head, upper part of the neck, 

 smaller wing-coverts, back, and rump, are bright-greenish 

 gold ; across the upper part of the breast runs a bar of 

 bright gilded yellow, beneath which the whole under parts 

 are deep brownish crimson ; the wings and tail are blackish 

 brown, the legs are also brown, the bill is black. This 

 beautiful species was discovered at Malimba, in Africa, by 

 M. Perrein. Another highly adorned species, such " as 

 limners love to paint, and ladies to look upon," is the 

 Certhia splendida of Shaw ( C. afra and lotenia, Linn. ?). 

 It usually occurs in woody places, and, in addition to its 

 splendid plumage, is said to be worthy of admiration for its 

 musical powers, — its song being by some esteemed equal 

 to that of the nightingale. The spotted breasted Cinnyris 

 (C. maculata) also dwells in the forests of Malimba, and 

 frequently approaches the habitations of the natives, al- 

 lured by the flowers of the Cytisus cajan, commonly called 

 the congo pea, which, according to Dr Shaw, is much cul- 

 tivated by the negroes. 



In some of these birds the central feathers of the tail are 

 lengthened in the males. Such is C. violacea, a Cape spe- 

 cies, which likewise dwells in woods, and is said to build a 

 nest of a singularly elegant construction. In a few the 

 bill is almost straight, as in C. rectiroslris, Vieillot, Our 

 restricted limits will not admit of our expatiating on this 

 delightful group. 



The genus Arachnothera of Temm. has the long ar- 

 cuated bill of the souimangas, but it is of stronger struc- 

 ture, and wants the dentations, and the tongue is short and 

 cartilaginous. The species (such as A. longirostra and 

 inornata, Temm. PL Col. 84, figs. 1 and 2), so far as yet 

 known, inhabit the Indian islands, and prey on spiders. 



The genus Trochilus, Linn., contains the true hum- 

 ming-birds, a numerous group of fairy and fantastic forms, 

 which inhabit both continents of America, and some neigh- 

 bouring islands, but are altogether unknown in the ancient 

 world. The bill is long and slender, but in its range 

 throughout the entire species exhibits considerable modi- 

 fication, being in some nearly straight, in others curved, 

 and in a few turned upwards. Such as are characterized 

 by an almost straight bill constitute the genus Ornismya, 

 Lesson {Orthorhynchus, Lacepede), Plate CCCXCIII. fig. 

 1 ; while those in which it is more or less bent remain 

 under the ancient name of Trochilus, Ibid. fig. 6. The 

 tongue is long and extensile, and is usually described as 

 being composed of two muscular tubes united for the great- 

 er part of their length, and broadening towards the point 

 into a spoon-like portion. Sir W. Jardine, on relaxing a 

 specimen of T. moschitus, observed the appearance of a fim- 

 briated opening at the tip, the outer margin of each divi- 

 sion being beset with recurved, sharp-pointed, pliable spines, 

 while in all that Mr Svvainson examined the two filaments 

 were perfectly flat. Their feet are extremely small, their 

 wings long and narrow, their tails comparatively broad, — 

 whilst their shortened humerus and very large unnotched 



1 The generic name of Nectarinia was bestowed by Illiger upon those foreign creepers known by the terms guit-guiU and souiman- 

 gas, but it has been applied more exclusively by Cnvier to the former, and by Temminck to the latter. The souimangas, on the 

 other hand, fall into Cuvier's genus Cinnyris, while the guit-guits are placed in the genus Ccereba by Temm. These transpositions, as 

 we have already remarked, are extremely perplexing. 



2 Vaillant, Hist. Nat. des Oiscaux d'Jfriquc, vols, in 4to, 1799, and subsequent years, — and Audebert, Oiscam dorcs, ou a reflets ml- 

 talliipiei, 2 vols. fol. Paris, 1802. A continuation of the latter work has been published by M. Vieillot. 



