Birds of British Guiana. 
49 
In' powerful muscles, wliirl with the rapidity of the propeller of 
an aeroplane, as they dart like insects from flower to flower. 
The humminy of their winys may be heard for several 
yards and is frequently accompanied by a continual twittering. 
To sustain the powerful muscles of the wings, the breast-bone 
is enormously developed and shaped like the keel of a racing" 
yacht. It will be noticed that the beak is abnormally long, in 
some species even longer than the l)ody, and sometimes serrat- 
ed. The tongue also is very long and can be protruded to a long 
distance; it is a double tube, forked at the end like a snake's. 
The bird is thus able to suck honey from flowers as it poises 
horizontally before them on almost invisible wings. The tail 
meanwhile opens and shuts like a fan, or is moved laterally from 
side to side. Its food consists, besides honey, of small insects 
which it collects from leaves and flowers. 
These tiny creatures are fearless birds and will drive off 
intruders ten times their size, darting at them with lightning- 
rapidity, their beaks held out stiff like a knight's lance. 
The tiny nest is a fairy-like structure of felted wool and 
cobwebs, often tastefully adorned with lichens; it lays but two 
white eggs, or only one. 
All these birds belong to the New World, their nearest 
approach in beauty and habits being the Sun-Birds of India and 
the East; but these latter are normal in their flight and must 
creep about the flowers in pursuit of their food. There are in 
all a hundred and seventeen genera, including some five hundred 
and seventy species. The females are generally much inferior 
in colouring to the males, and lack their feathered adornments. 
Humming Birds. — (Colonial). Trochilidac. 
Blue-fronted Lance-Bill Hemistcphnuhi johaimac. 
White-tailed Barbthroal (mourner) Thrcuclcj Iciiciirus. 
*Bronzc-gTecn Hermit ,. atitoniac. 
Rugged Brown Humming Bird Glaucis hirsula. 
♦jGuiana Radiant Humming Bird Phaethornis gtiianac. 
Eye-browed Humming B'rd ,, superciliosiis. 
fMajestic Radiant ,, aui^usti. 
Hermit Humming Bird ., bourcieri. 
*Rupuruni Radiant ,, rupuruni. 
* I. •• loiiguemareus. 
*Bishop „ ,, cpiscopus. 
