fVoODPECKEltS.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



375 



Lesson describes it as being of a sombre tint with 

 little bats of brown and whitish, except on the lower 



grey, covers the head; cheeks rusty, and throat, 

 whitish ; all the upper part of the body, wings, and 

 even the great quills, rusty brown barred with small 

 Whitisii bands; shafts of the quills golden yellow, 

 and their internal part fulvous brown, with a white 

 border or a single spot of the same colour towards 

 the middle; breast, abdomen, and flanks whitish, 

 dotted with brown ; colour of each feather yellowish 

 white, while the middle is occupied by a circle of 

 brown deepest upon the breast. Tail-feathers stiff 

 and wedge-shaped, brown above, with a slight ful- 

 vous tint brightest below; the two external and the 

 two internal ones are pencilled with whitish sinuous 

 bands upon their edges. Colour of the tarsi green- 

 ish, that of the claws approaching reddish. Total 

 length more than eleven inches. (Lesson.) 



1657. — The Caffke Woodpecker 

 (TracJu/pJionns Cafer, G. R. Gray). Le Promepic 

 of Le "Vail I ant. 



In this bird we are presented with a still further 

 departure from the model : the tarsi are elevated ; the 

 tail soft and rounded, with the feathers broad at 

 their apex : the beak arched ; and the general con- 

 tour remote from that so palpably characteristic of 

 the habits of the woodpeckers, and which a glance 

 is sufficient to appreciate. 



Mr. G. R. Gray, we believe, places this species in 

 his subfamily Bucconinae (Barbets), and Cuvier 

 discovers in its arched beak an approach to the 

 Cuckoos. In some respects it appears to us to ap- 

 proach the Wryneck. The Caffre woodpecker seeks 

 its food on the ground, in the crevices of the bark 

 and under the moss of decayed trees and moulder- 

 ing logs. The colouring of this species is as follows : 

 — head, belly, and rump yellow; upper coverts of 

 the tail orange ; forehead black ; two black scanty 

 pointed aigrettes ; a large black collar variegated 

 with white, bordered above with a small narrow 

 white edging varied a little with brown below ; back 

 of the neck and back brown, each feather termi- 

 nated with white. Tail rounded, brown, striped 

 with greyish white ; hill black at the point. 



This is the Promepic of Le Vaillant; Trachypho- 

 nus Vaillantii, Ranz ; Micropogan suiphuratus, Latr. ; 

 and Polysticte quopopa, Smith. Native country, 

 Caifraria. 



1658.— The Wryneck 



(Yunx Torquilla). Le Torcol, Button : Die Wende- 

 hals, Bechstein; Long-tongue, Emmet-hunter, 

 Snake-bird, and Cuekoo's-mate, Provincial English. 

 The Wryneck is one of our summer visitors, and, 

 though common in the southern and eastern coun- 

 ties of our island, is very scarce in the north and 

 west. In Ireland, we believe, it is never seen. It 

 arrives in April, a few days before the appearance of 

 the cuckoo, and its loud cry of peep, peep, peep, 

 monotonously repeated, is first heard when the elm- 

 tree leaves are as large as a silver sixpence. 

 Groves, orchards, and woods are the resorts of this 

 elegant bird, and also the lines of tall beech-trees 

 along hedgerows. Ants are its favourite food, and 

 in quest of them it traverses the trunks of trees, 

 though its tail is not used as an assistant in climbing, 

 examining every crevice, and picking them up by 

 means of its long vermiform tongue covered w T ith a 

 glutinous secretion. It also visits the ground for 

 the same purpose, where it hops and walks with con- 

 siderable facility, searching for the nests of these 

 insects, and it is astonishing to see with what 

 rapidity it devours them, launching its long tongue 

 at them, and withdrawing it so rapidly that the eye 

 can scarcely follow the motion. This tongue is 

 evidently endowed with a high degree of sensibility, 

 and perhaps of taste; we have frequently seen the 

 wryneck in captivity launch it forth, when any sub- 

 stance has been presented as food, and touch the 

 morsel with it, keeping it at the time in a state of 

 quivering vibration : it reminded us of the tongue of 

 the Dasypus Peba. In Fig. 1659 the head and 

 tongue of the Wryneck are well delineated. Whifce 

 (' Nat. Hist. Selborne') says, " These birds appear on 

 the grass-plots and walks ; they walk alittle, as well 

 as hop, and thrust their bills into the turf, in quest, 

 I conclude, of ants, which are their food : while they 

 hold their bills on the grass, they draw out their 

 prey with their tongues which are so long as to be 

 coiled round their heads." Colonel Montagu informs 

 us that having captured a female, which he confined 

 for some days in a cage, he was enabled to watch 

 its manners very minutely. " A quantity of mould, 

 with emmets and their eggs, was given it ; and it 

 was curious to observe the tongue darted forth and 

 retracted with such velocity and such unerring aim 

 that it never returned without an ant or an egg 

 adhering to it, not transfixed by the horny points, as 

 some have imagined, but retained by a peculiar 



tenacious moisture provided for that purpose. 

 While feeding, the body is motionless, the head only 

 is turned to every side, and the motion of the tongue 

 is so rapid that an ant's egg, which is of a light 

 colour and more conspicuous than the tongue, has 

 somewhat the appearance of moving to the mouth 

 by attraction as a needle flies to a magnet. The 

 bill is rarely used except to remove the mould in 

 order to get more readily at these insects ; where 

 the earth is hollow, the tongue is thrust into all the 

 cavities to rouse the ants, and for this purpose 

 the horny appendage is extremely serviceable as a 

 guide to the tongue. We have seen the green 

 woodpecker take its food in a similar manner." 

 The wryneck breeds in the holes of decayed trees, 

 but does not excavate a chamber, like the wood- 

 pecker, the strength of the beak being inadequate 

 for that purpose. The eggs, nine or ten m number, 

 and of a pure transparent white, are laid upon the 

 bare wood. When surprised upon her eggs, the 

 wryneck defends herself with great spirit, erecting 

 the feathers of the top of the head, and hissing like 

 a snake. The young if molested also hiss, and turn 

 their heads in various directions. The name wry- 

 neck is indeed given to this bird from its singular 

 habit of twisting and wry thine: its neck with odd 

 contortions when alarmed or irritated. 



The wryneck leaves our island early in autumn, 

 retiring southwards, and most probably passing the 

 winter in Africa; specimens, indeed, have been 

 received from that continent and from India. In 

 Europe the wryneck is very generally spread during 

 summer, being found even as far north as Sweden ; 

 but, according to Temminck, it is rare in Holland. 

 Though the colours of this bird are not gaudy, they 

 are scarcely to be exceeded for simple beauty and 

 propriety of arrangement. The upper parts are 

 brown and grey exquisitely dotted, and chequered 

 with spots, dashes, zigzag bars, and lines of black 

 and rufous, difficult to describe and difficult for the 

 artist 1o copy. The throat is yellowish white, with 

 transverse black bars; the breast and under parts 

 are white, with arrow-head spots of black. Length 

 seven inches, 



The characters of the genus may be summed up 

 as follows : — bill short, straight, "conical and de- 

 pressed, the ridge rounded, mandible sharp ; tongue 

 long, vermiform, armed at the tip with a horny 

 but unbarbed point ; feet zygodactyle, the two ante- 

 rior toes united together at their base ; tail-feathers 

 ten, soft, and flexible ; wings moderate. The spe- 

 cies are limited in number. 



Family TROCHILID.E (HUMMING-BIRDS). 



1660, 1661. — Examples of Humming-Birds 



The humming-birds are among the least and most 

 brilliant of the feathered race. Winged gems, 

 they glance with dazzling effulgence as they dart 

 along or hover over the fragrant flowers draining 

 the nectary of its liquid sweets. No birds excel 

 them in powers of flight ; their long and narrow 

 wings are admirably adapted for aerial progression. 

 The quill -feathers are stiff, firm, and elastic, and 

 furnished with rigid shafts, in some instances sin- 

 gularly developed. The tail is variable. The plu- 

 mage is close and compact, and resembles an 

 arrangement of fishes' scales, glittering, in the males, 

 with metallic lustre. The tarsi are very small and 

 short : and the toes, three before and one behind, 

 are very delicate. The ground is never their resting- 

 place ; they perch on slender twigs, but are mostly 

 seen on the wing. If we look at the tiny skeleton 

 of one of these birds (Fig. 1662), we shall be struck 

 by the great depth and extent of the keel of the 

 breast -bone, the length of the scapulas, and the com- 

 parative insignificance of the legs. The whole mus- 

 cular force is, in fact, concentrated upon the organs 

 of flight; the pectoral muscles, in comparison with 

 the size of the bird, exceed in volume perhaps those 

 of any other of the feathered race ; and all the other 

 muscles for working the wings are in just accordance. 

 Looking at the skeleton alone, the comparative 

 anatomist would say the greatest portion of the 

 life of these birds, all their active existence, is 

 passed on the wing. The primary quill-feather is 

 always the longest. The beak is long and slender, 

 but very variable in its form, being straight, curved, 

 and in some species even turned up. The tongue is 

 long, bifid, or split, into two filaments, tubular, and 

 capable of being darted out to a considerable dis- 

 tance. As in the woodpeckers, it is the principal 

 instrument by means of which they obtain then- 

 food, viz., insects of various kinds and the nectar of 

 flowers ; and it is protruded by the same arrange- 

 ment of the cartilaginous continuation of the os 

 hyoideswindinground the skull to the forehead, which 

 we have explained in those birds. With respect to 

 the tongue itself, Lesson describes it as composed of 

 two musculo-fibrous cylinders, soldered to each 

 other so as to resemble in some degree a double- 

 barrelled gun : but these tubes towards the tip be- 

 come separated and enlarged, each presenting a 



little blade, which is concave within and convex 

 externally. "In order that this tubular tongue may 

 be projected upon the aliments which its termina- 

 tions are appointed to seise and retain, the os hyoides 

 which supports it is formed of two bony plates or 

 straps, which separate, pass below the cranium, re- 

 ascend over the hones of the occiput, and proceed, 

 to form a point of resistance or fulcrum by their re- 

 union on the forehead. The result of this disposi- 

 tion, when brought into play by the muscles of the 

 tongue, is a great power over the muscular tubes 

 which compose the organ of taste. The two small 

 blades of elongated spoon-like termination seize 

 the insects or lick up the honied exudations, which 

 are on the instant carried to the aperture of the 

 oesophagus by the elasticity and contractility of the 

 two tubes, and forthwith swallowed. The long and 

 slender bill comes in admirably in aid to insert the 

 tongue in the nectary of flowers." Sir W. Jardine 

 (* Nat. Libr. Ornithol.,' vol. i.) confirms this account 

 given by Lesson, as does also Brisson, as far as he 

 was enabled to discover by an examination of the 

 parts moistened with water, after having been dried ; 

 but he adds, that it appeared to him, on investigat- 

 ing the structure of the tongue of the Trochilus mos- 

 chatus thus relaxed, that its tip presented a fim- 

 briated opening, having the exterior margin of each 

 fork set with recurved, sharp-pointed, pliable spines, 

 as if to assist its viscidity in securing any substance 

 seized by them. Fig. 1663 represents the bill and 

 tongue of the Humming-bird, after Lesson : a, the 

 head profile, the tongue protruded from the bill, 

 and showing its bifurcation ; the two branches of 

 the os hyoides seen surrounding the cranium ; b, the 

 same seen from above, the two branches of the os 

 hyoides uniting at a pointed angle in front ; c, the 

 same seen from below ; d, the tongue much magni- 

 fied, with some of the soft parts dissected away,"but 

 adhering to the os hyoides and its branches, as well as 

 to the larynx seen from above ; e, the same seen 

 from below, with the os hyoides only, and the two 

 lamallse of its point separated; /, portion of the 

 tongue, very much magnified, seen from above, so 

 as to convey the idea of the manner in which the 

 cylinders that form it are united ; g, the lower side 

 j of the same. The senses of sight and hearing are 

 ; highly acute in the hummingbirds; and so, from 

 || the structure of the tongue and its office, we may 

 j conclude that of taste to be. 



These gorgeous birds are all natives of America, 

 " and, according to our best information, that great 

 archipelago of islands between Florida and" the 

 mouth of the Orinoco, together with the mainland 

 of the southern continent until it passes the tropic 

 of Capricorn, literally swarms with them ; in the 

 wild and uncultivated parts they inhabit those forests 

 of magnificent timber overhung with lianas and 

 the superb tribe of Bignonaceas, the huge trunks 

 clothed with a rich drapery of parasites whose blos- 

 soms vie in tints, if not in brilliancy, with their 

 winged riflers ; in the cultivated parts they abound 

 in the gardens, and ;seem to delight in society, be- 

 coming very familiar ; feeling confidence in their 

 own powers, they will even hover about one side of 

 a shrub while flowers or fruits are plucked from the 

 opposite. As we recede from the tropics on either 

 side, the numbers decrease, though some species are 

 found in Mexico, and others in Peru, which do not 

 appear to exist elsewhere. Thus Mr. Bullock dis- 

 covered several species at a high elevation, and 

 consequently low temperature, on the lofty table- 

 lands of Mexico, and in the woods in the vicinity of 

 the snowy mountains of Orizaba; while Captain 

 King, in his survey of the southern coasts, met with 

 numerous members of this diminutive family flying 

 about in a snow-storm near the Straits of Magellan, 

 and discovered two species in the remote island of 

 Juan Fernandez. Two species only spread far into 

 the northern continent of America : the one, the 

 Ruff-necked Humming-bird, which was discovered 

 by Captain Cook in Nootka Sound, and has been 

 traced by Kotzebue to 61° along the western shores ; 

 the other, the Northern or Ruby-throated Humming- 

 bird, so beautifully described by Wilson. This 

 species has been obtained from the plains of the 

 Saskatchewan, and was found breeding, by Mr. 

 Drummond, near the sources of the Elk river. It is 

 known to reach as far north as the fifty-seventh 

 parallel." 



The velocity with which the humming-birds 

 glance through the air is extraordinary, and so 

 rapid is the vibration of their wings, that the action 

 eludes the sight ; when hovering before a flower, 

 they seem suspended as if by some magic power, 

 rather than by the vigorous movement of their 

 rigid pinions, which, however, produce a constant 

 murmur or buzzing sound, whence the English title 

 by which we designate, these birds, and the Creole 

 epithets in Cayenne and the Antilles, viz., Mur- 

 mures, Bourdons, and Frou-frous. 



It has been frequently and justly observed, that 

 in their mode of flight the humming-birds closely 

 resemble the sphinx-moths, or the dragon-flies, 



