Notices of New Books. 



8429 



appears to be specially adapted for some given purpose ; indeed I 

 have never seen the law of adaptation more beautifully exemplified 

 than in the multiplied forms exhibited in the bills of the members of 

 the various genera of this family of birds. A certain generic character 

 runs through the whole of them ; the gape in all cases is very small, 

 and whether the bill be curved ur straight the upper mandible overlaps 

 the under one on both sides, and thus forms an admirable protection 

 for the delicate double-tubed tongue. If we examine the extraordi- 

 narily lengthened bill of Docimastes ensifer and the short feeble bill 

 of the Lesbia Gouldi we see the extremes as regards the length of this 

 organ, and we are not less astonished at the functions they are both 

 intended to perform. The bill of the D. ensifer, which is nearly six 

 inches long, and which contains a tongue capable of being protruded 

 nearly as far beyond its tip, is most admirably fitted for the explora- 

 tion of the lengthened and pendent corollas of the B rug in an site, while 

 the short-billed Lesbix cling to the upper portion of those flowers, 

 pierce their bases, and with the delicate feelers at the extremities of 

 the tongue, readily secure the insects which there abound. I have 

 been assured by M. Bourcier that this is really a practice of the bird, 

 and that it frequently resorts to this device for the purpose of gaining 

 its insect food, but I suspect that, besides exploring the stalwart Brug- 

 mansise, a more delicate flora is the object for which its bill is especi- 

 ally formed. In no part of America are so many tubular-flowered 

 plants as among the Andes, and the greater number of the humming birds 

 found there have straight and lengthened bills, such as the members 

 of the genera Helianthea, Bourcieria, Coeligeua, &c. The arched bills 

 of the Phaethornithes are admirably adapted for securing the insects 

 which resort to the leaves of trees, and upon which these birds are 

 said to exist. But how much are we astonished when we examine 

 the bill of Eutoxeres, and find this organ curved downwards beyond 

 the extent of a semicircle, a form beautifully adapted for exploring 

 the scale-covered stems of the larger palms." 



<£ Let us turn to another genus of this group — Grypus. Here the 

 bill is not only armed with a strong hook at the end of the mandibles, 

 but with a row of numerous and thickly-set teeth. The G. naevius is 

 said to frequent the borders of the great forests, and to gain its food 

 from among the interstices of the bark of the palm trees. Both this 

 bird and the Eutoxeres, as well as the Phaethornithes, are said (and I 

 believe with truth) to feed principally upon spiders, and we know that 

 these are the food of the Grypus. All the members of the genus 

 Ramphomicron are said to feed on insects which inhabit the alpine 



