HUMMING-BIRD. ^73 



dering them the admiration of mankind; while 

 their colours are so radiant that it is not by com- 

 paring them with the analogous hues of other birds 

 that we are enabled to explain with propriety 

 their peculiar splendor, but by the more exalted 

 brilliancy of polished metals and precious stones ; 

 the ruby, the garnet, the sapphire, the emerald, 

 the topaz, and polished gold being considered as 

 the most proper objects of elucidation. 



It is not however to be imagined that all the 

 species of Humming-Birds are thus decorated: 

 some being even obscure in their colours, and, 

 instead of the prevailing splendor of the major 

 part of the genus, exhibiting only a faint appear- 

 ance of a golden-green tiiige, diffused over the 

 brown or purplish colour of the back and wings. 

 The genus is of great extent, and, in order that 

 the species may with greater readiness be inves- 

 tigated, it has been found necessary to divide them 

 into two sections, viz. the curve-billed, and the 

 strait-billed. The exact limits of the two divisions 

 are however difficult to determine. 



The mode of life in the Humming-Birds appears 

 to be uniform. They live by absorbing the sweet 

 juices of flowers, which they extract with their 

 tubular tongue, and though small insects are said 

 to have been sometimes observed in their sto- 

 machs, yet this seems rather accidental than regu- 

 lar or natural. 



A magnificent work has lately appeared on this 

 genus by Messieurs Viellot and Audebert, in 

 which a laudable attempt has been made to ex- 



V. VIII. p. !• 18 



