T R O 
TRO 
seeds of each cell usually ripens. There 
are 1 1 species, chiefly shrubs of the West 
Indies. 
TRIXIS, a genus of the syngenesia poly- 
gamia class and order of plants. The corolla; 
of the ray are trilid, seeds hairy at the top, 
without any down ; recept. chaffy. There 
are three species, herbs of the West Indies. 
TROCHAIC VERSE, in the Latin poe- 
try, a kind of verse, so called because the 
trochees chiefly prevail, as the iambus does 
in the iambic. It generally consists of seven 
feet and a syllable ; the odd feet, for the most 
part:, consist of trochees, though a tribrachys 
is sometimes admitted, except in the seventh 
foot ; these two feet are likewise used in the 
other places, as is also the spondceus,dactylus, 
and anapiestus. The following is an example ; 
- 1 2 3 4 5 
Solus j aut rex | aut po j eta ] non quot j 
6 7 i 
annis [ nasci | tur. 
TROCHANTER. See Anatomy. 
TROCHE. See Pharmacy. % 
TROCHEE; in the Greek and Latin poe- 
try, a foot consisting of two syllables, the first 
long and the second short, as in the words 
mush and servat. 
TROCHILUS, humming-bird, a genus of 
birds belonging to the order of pica;. The 
rostrum is subulate, aliform, and longer than 
the head, the apex being tubular ; the upper 
mandible sheaths the lower. The tongue is 
filiform and tubulous, the two threads coa- 
lescing ; the feet are slender and lit for walk- 
ing ; the tail has ten feathers. There are 65 
species, none of which are natives of Britain. 
They are all remarkable for the beauty of 
their colours, and most of them for the small- 
ness of their size, though some are eight or 
nine inches in length. They are divided into 
two families, viz. those with crooked bills, 
and those with straight bills. See Plate 
Nat. Hist. fig. 408. Of these we shall de- 
scribe the four following species : 
1. The exilis, or little humming-bird, has a 
crooked beak, is an inch and a half in length; 
frequently weighing less than 50 grains. The 
bill is black, and half an inch in length ; the 
body greenish-brown, with a red shining, ini- 
mitable gloss ; the head is crested with a 
small tuft, green at bottom, but of a sparkling 
gold colour at top ; quills and tail fine black. 
It is a native ©f Guiana; and the velocity of 
it in flying is so great, that the eye can 
scarcely keep pace with its motion. 
2. The moschitus, or ruby-necked hum- 
ming-bird, according to Marcgrave, is the 
most beautiful of the whole genus. Its length 
is three inches four lines ; the bill straight, 
eight lines long, and blackish ; the top of the 
head and hind part of the neck are as bright 
as a ruby, and of the same colour : the upper 
parts of the body are brown, with a faint mix- 
ture of green and gold ; the throat and fore- 
part of the neck are the colour of the most 
brilliant topaz ; the belly, sides, and thighs, 
are brown; but on the lower part of the 
belly, on each side, is a spot of white ; the 
tail is rufous purple, inclining to violet at 
the ends ; the two middle feathers are 
shortest; the legs and claws blackish. The 
female has only a dash of golden or topaz on 
the breast and fore-part of the neck ; the rest 
©f the under parts are greyish-white. This 
species is found in Brasil, Curassoct, Guiana, 
and Surinam. See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 40Q. 
3. The minimus, or lea,>t humming-bird, 
is exceeded, both in weight and dimensions, 
by several species of bees. The total length 
is one inch and a quarter ; and when killed, 
weighs no more, according to Sir Hans 
Sloane, than 20 grains. The bill is straight 
and black, three lines and a half in length ; 
the upper parts of the head and body are of a 
greenish gilded brown, in some lights appear- 
ing reddish ; the under parts are greyish- 
white ; the wings are violet-browu ; the tail 
of a bluish-black, with a gloss of polished 
metal ; but the outer feather, except one on 
each side, is grey from the middle to the tip, 
and the outer one wholly grey ; legs and 
claws brown. The female is iess than the 
male ; the whole upper side of a dirty brown, 
with a slight gloss of green ; the under parts 
of a dirty-white. These birds are found in 
various parts of South America and the adja- 
cent islands. 
4. Superciliosus, white shaft, or superci- 
lious humming-bird, has a bill twenty lines 
long; the feathers of the tail next the two 
long shafts are abo the longest, and the la- 
teral ones continually decrease to the two 
outermost, which are the shortest, and this 
gives the tail a pyramidal shape; its quills 
have a goldgloss on a grey and blackish 
ground, with a whitish edge : t the point, and 
the two shafts are white through the whole 
projecting portions ; all the upper side of the 
back and head gold-colour ; the wing violet- 
brown ; and the under side of the body 
white-grey. 
These birds subsist on the nectar or sweet 
juice of flowers ; they frequent those most 
which have a long tube, particularly the im- 
patiens noli me tangere, the monarda with 
crimson flowers, and those of the convolvulus 
tribe. They never settle on the flower dur- 
ing the action of extracting the juice, but 
flutter continually like bees, moving their 
wings very quick, and making a humming 
noise; whence their name. They are not 
very shy, suffering people to come within a 
foot or two of the piace where they are, but 
when approached nearer, fly off like an arrow 
out of a bow. They often meet and fight for 
the right to a flower, and this all on the wing. 
In this state they often come into rooms 
where the windows stand open, fight a little, 
and go out again. When they come to a 
flower which is juiceless, or on the point o- 
withering, they pluck it off as if in anger, by 
which means the ground is often quite cover- 
ed with them. When they fly against each 
other, they have, besides the humming, a 
sort of chirping noise, like a sparrow or 
chicken. They do not feed on insects or 
fruit; nor can they be kept long in cages, 
though they have been preserved alive for 
several weeks together, by feeding them with 
water in which sugar had been dissolved. 
This bird most frequently builds in the 
middle of a branch of a tree, and the nest is 
so small that it cannot be seen by a person 
who stands on the ground ; any one therefore 
desirous of seeing it must get up to the branch, 
that he may view it from above ; it is for this 
reason that the nests are not more frequently 
found. The nest is of course very small, 
and quite round ; the outside, for the most 
part composed of green moss, common 
on old pales and trees j the inside of soft 
TRO 829 
down, mostly collected from the leaves of the 
great mullein, or the silk grass ; but some- 
times they vary the texture, making use of 
flax, hemp, hairs, and other soft materials ; 
they lay two eggs of the size of a pea, which 
are white, and not bigger at one end than the 
other. 
The above account of the manners will in 
general suit all the birds ot this genus ; for as 
their tongues are made for suction, it is by 
this method alone that they can gain nou- 
rishment: no wonder, therefore, they can 
scarcely be kept aljve by human art. Cap- 
tain Davies, however, kept these birds alive 
tor four months by the following' method : 
He made an exact imitation of some of the 
tubular flowers with paper, fastened round a 
tobacco-pipe, and painted them of a proper 
colour; these were placed in the order of 
nature, in the cage wherein these little crea- 
tures were confined ; the bottoms of the tubes 
were filled with a mixture of brown sugar and 
water as often as emptied ; and he had the 
pleasure of seeing them perform every ac- 
tion, for they soon grew familar, and took 
the nourishment in the. same manner as when 
ranging at large, though close under his eye. 
TROCHOID. See Cycloid. 
T ROC HUS, a genus of vermes testacea : 
the generic character is, animal a limax ; shell 
univalve, spiral, more or iess conic ; aper- 
ture somewhat .angular or rounded ; the 
upper side transverse and contracted ; pillar 
placed obliquely. See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 
410. There are about 120 species. ■ 
TROGON, or curucui, a genus of birds 
of the order pica;. The generic character is, 
bill shorter than the head, sharp-edged, hook- 
ed, the mandibles serrate, at the edge ; feet 
formed for climbing. There are nine spe- 
cies. I hey all inhabit warm countries, are 
solitary, and live in damp unfrequented 
woods, building on the lower branches : their 
flight is short, and they feed on insects: body 
long; nostrils covered with bristles; feet 
short, woolly ; tail very long, consisting of 12 
feathers. 
TROLLTUS, globe-flmver, in botany, a 
genus of plants of the class polyandria, and 
order polygynia, and in the natural system 
ranging under the 26th order, multisiliquse. 
The calyx is wanting; there are about 14 
petals ; the capsules are very numerous, 
ovate, and many seeded. There are two 
species, the asiaticus and c-uropaeus ; the lat- 
ter of which is a British plant. The euro- 
pa-us, or European globe-flower, has its co- 
rollets connivent, and from nine to sixteen 
nectaria, of the length of the stamina, linear, 
plane, incurvated, and perforated at the in- 
side of the base. The leaves are divided first 
into five segments down to the base : the 
segments are again divided, each about half- 
way, into two or three lobes, which are 
sharply indented on the edges. The stalk is 
a foot high, and scarcely branched ; the 
flower is yellow, globose, and spacious. It 
grows at the foot of mountains, and bv the 
sides of rivulets. The country people in 
Sweden strew their floors and pavements on 
holidays with the flowers, which have a plea- 
sant smelt, and are ornamental in gardens. 
The asiaticus is little different, except that 
the coroll a inclines to orange. 
TRONAGE, the mayor and commonalty 
of the city of London, are ordained keepers 
