36o DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



most beautiful burnished steel, and which has 

 the feathers of its flanks elongated like those of 

 the bird of paradise, is one of the rarest and most 

 beautiful birds of the collection. On the second 

 shelf are the species of American creepers. These 

 little birds resemble I he pies in their habits, and 

 in the feathers of their tails, which are stiff and 

 worn at the end. The humming birds fill up 

 the third, fourth, and fifth shelves. They excite 

 attention by their diminutive size, the beauty of 

 their colours, and the elegance of their forms ; 

 several of them are not an inch long; their nests 

 are placed by their side. The topaz, the garnet, 

 the red topaz, the ruby, the sapphire, and the 

 emerald humming birds, have been so named 

 from the colours of these precious stones which 

 they display on their breasts and necks. They 

 are all natives of America, and fly rapidly round 

 the flowers, the nectar of which they suck by in- 

 troducing their tongue into the corolla, which 

 is bifid like that of the pies and capable of the 

 same elongation ; they also feed on small insects. 

 The crested-neck of Cayenne and the white 

 crested-neck of Brazil are not so lively, but their 

 size is scarcely larger than that of a hornet. Tl^e 

 sugar-eaters (cinnjris, Cuv.), which are the hum- 

 ming birds of the ancient continent, fill the three 

 following shelves. They are equally brilliant, 



