THE TO D V. THE HUMMING BIRD. 
75 
a considerable resemblance to the kingfisher. There are 
three or four species of this bird, all of them inhabitants 
°f South America. 
The Tody is a small bird which bears considerable rela- 
tion to the fly-catchers. Latham reckons about fourteen 
species, all inhabiting the warmer climate ol America. They 
are green, ash coloured, blue, brown and pied, and seldom 
are lound to exceed the size of a wren. 
The Humming-bird. Of this charming little animal, 
there are not less than sixty species, from the size of a small 
wren down to that of a bee. An European could neves 
have supposed a bird existing so very small, and yet com- 
pletely furnished with a bill, feathers, wings, and intestines, 
exactly resembling those of the largest kind. A bird not 
So big as the end of one’s little linger, would probably be 
supposed but a creature of imagination, were it not seen in 
utfinite numbers, and as frequent as butterflies in a summer’s 
day, sporting in the fields of America, from flower to flower, 
and extracting their sweets with its little bill. 
The smallest humming-bird is about the size of a bee, and 
"'fighs no more than twenty grains. The leathers on its 
'vings and tail are violet brown, but those on its body, and 
Under its wings, are of a greenish brown ; with a fine red cast 
° r gloss, which no silk or velvet can imitate. The bill is 
hack, straight, slender, and of the length of three lines and 
d half The Jt it lit/- crested Humming-bird is larger than the 
preceding. Its throat is like burnished gold glossed with 
emeralds; and it has a small crest on its head, green at the 
.’°Uom, and as it were gilded at the top ; and which sparkles 
ln the sun like a little star in the middle of its forehead. 
* he Garnet-throated 11 umming-bird , is four inches and a 
Quarter long. It has a hooked bill about an inch long, the 
hea fl, neck, back, &c. dark green, and the throat a fine garnet 
appearing glossy in some directions. The gold-throated 
umming-bird is about half as big as the common wren, 
mid without a crest on its head ; but to make amends, it 
ls covered, from the throat half way down the belly, with 
changeable crimson-coloured feathers, which in different 
]| guts, change to a variety of beautiful colours, much like 
a n opal. The Ruby-necked is however the most beautiful 
0 a H species. It is about the size of the preceding.^ The 
upper parts of the body are brown with a mixture of green 
b°hl, and the throat like the finest topaz. There are, in a 
v °>d, of almost all colours of these beautiful animals, 
