464 



REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



The Promerops are distinguished from the other Upupmcz by the 

 absence of the crest, by their very long tail, and by their forked 

 and extensible tongue. They are natives of Africa, and their habits 

 are little known. 



The Epimachus are remarkably beautiful birds. When at maturity 

 the side-feathers develop themselves in delicate lines or elegant 

 panicles, while their plumage, richly coloured, is brilliant with 



diaphanous metallic reflections. 

 Little is known of their habits. 

 They are natives of Australia 

 and New Guinea. The very 

 remarkable species, E. multifile 

 has six long fillets on each side 

 of its body. The equally 

 striking species, E. magnus 

 (Fig. 185), has the elongated 

 side-feathers raised and curling, 

 of a glittering steel blue, azure, 

 and emerald green ; the breast 

 and belly lustrous with the same 

 diaphanous tints. This bird is 

 an inhabitant of New Guinea. 



The Humming-birds (Tro- 



chilidce) maybe divided into those 



that have the beak straight, and 



those having the beak curved. 



With this slight difference, the 



Trochilidce and Colibri closely 



resemble each other. They have 



the same slight, elegant figure, the same brilliancy of plumage, and 



the same habits — describe the one, and you describe the other. We 



must be permitted, therefore, to treat of them together. 



The Humming-birds are the most lovely of the winged race. 

 Nature seems to have endowed them with her rarest gifts. In creat- 

 ing them she surpassed herself, and exhausted all the charms at 

 her disposal ; for she imbued them with grace, elegance, rapidity of 

 motion, magnificence of plumage, and indomitable courage. What 

 can be more delighful than the sight of these little feathered beauties, 

 flashing with the united fires of the ruby, the topaz, the sapphire, and 

 the emerald, flying from flower to flower amid the richest tropical 

 vegetation ? Such are the lightness and rapidity of some of the 

 smaller species, that the eye can scarcely follow the quick beat of 



Fig. 185. — Epimachus. 



