u 
BEAUTIFUL BIEDS. 
or divided into several slender filaments, somewhat 
similar to a painter’s brush. The hill in some species 
is so soft and flexible that it is incapable o f grasping 
food, and appears in the typical groups principally 
intended to protect the tongue, as the chief member 
by which life is sustained. In the more typical species, 
as the feet are not required for progression upon the 
ground, or among the twigs or sprays of trees or 
shrubs, but merely for clinging to these latter, or sup- 
porting the bird upon its perch when inclined to rest, 
they are remarkably short and weak. 
The tribe has been divided by ]Mr. Vigors into the 
following families, viz., JMeliphagidcB, which are peculiar 
to the Old World; ^ectarinidce, found only in the New 
World; Trocliilidce ; CinmjridcB ; Promeropidce: 
each of which will be noticed in its order. 
The group which appears to be most aberrant of 
the tenuirostral birds on the side of the Scansores is 
that which comprises the Honey-suckers {Meliphagida ) . 
The food of these birds, as the name indicates, con- 
sists, it is supposed, in a great measure of the nectar 
or honey which is produced within the cups of flowers ; 
and to enable them to procure this the bill is some- 
what lengthened, and the 
tongue is generally termi- 
nated by a b unch of delicate 
filaments. The bill, how- 
ever, exhibits a considerable 
diversity of size and strength, 
but it is generally stronger 
than in any other birds of this tribe, and has the upper 
mandible distinctly notched. The feet are large and 
