X 



INTRODUCTION. 



In some cases the outer sides of the extreme forts of the tongue 

 have sharp-pointed pliable spines, or barbs, no doubt intended to 

 assist in securing the prey; the muscular fibres by which it is 

 thrust out and drawn in are arranged spirally like the turn of a 

 corkscrew, so that in acting they lessen or increase the diameter 

 of the tube, in proportion as they project or retract it; that these 

 hollow tubes formed channels through which liquid nourishment 

 was sucked up by the bird, seems to haye been the opinion of 

 most of the older naturalists; and we cannot wonder that the 

 oets should have fallen into this error, for error it appears to 

 e, and compared the bright-winged creatures to bees rifling the 

 flowers of their nectar stores. Thus James Montgomery says — 



"From flower to flower, where wild bees flew and sung, 

 As countless small and musical as they, 

 Showers of bright Humming Birds came down, and plied 

 The same ambrosial task with slender hill, 

 Extracting honey bidden in those bells, 

 Whose richest blooms grew pale beneath the blaze 

 Of twinkling winglets hovering o'er their petals, 

 Brilliant as rain-drops, when the western sun 

 Sees his own miniature of beams of each." 



THE FEET 



of Humming Birds are what are called anisodactylic. This is a 

 long ugly word, which I scarcely expect my readers to remember ; 

 it is of Greek origin, and means a kind of double measure, with 

 one portion longer than the other. This is a foot peculiar to the 

 creepers, and all such birds as are in the habit of climbing about 

 the trunks and branches of trees in search of food. Of British 

 Birds the Nuthatch has this formation of foot in its greatest per- 

 fection; in the Humming Birds it is not very perfect, as they 

 have less use for it, feeding chiefly while hovering on the wing 

 over the flower-bells, and amid the splendid creepers of the western 

 forests, where, as the poet Bogers says, 



"Throiigh citron groves and fields of yellow maze, 

 Through plantain walks, where not a sunbeam plays, 

 Here blue savannahs fade into the sky, 

 There forests frown in midnight majesty. 

 Here sits the bird that speaks! there quivering rise 

 Wings that reflect the glow of evening skies! 

 Half-bird, half-fly, the fairy king of flowers 

 Reigns there, and revels through the fragrant bowers." 



THE WINGS 



of the Humming Bird are formed much like those of the Swallow 

 tribe, especially of that species called the Swift; they generally 



