34 



HUMMING-BIRD 



On dissection the heart was found to be remarkably large, 

 nearly as big as the cranium, and the stomach, tho distended with 

 food, uncommonly small, not exceeding the globe of the eye, and 

 scarcely more than one-sixth part as large as the heart ; the fibres 

 of the last were also exceedingly strong. The brain was in large 

 quantity, and very thin ; the tongue, from the tip to an extent equal 

 with the length of the bill, was perforated, forming two closely at- 

 tached parallel and cylindrical tubes ; the other extremities of the 

 tongue corresponded exactly to those of the Woodpecker, passing 

 up the hind head, and reaching to the base of the upper mandible. 

 These observations were verified in five different subjects, all of 

 whose stomachs contained fragments of insects, and some of them 

 whole ones. 



