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ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
CHAP. X. 
ON THE TRIBE OF TENOIBOSTRES, OR SUCTORIAL BIRDS. 
( 159 .) The most aberrant division of the insessorial 
order is that of the Tencirostres, or honey suckers ; so 
called from the great majority deriving their subsistence 
both from insects and the nectar of plants, which they 
suck up by means of a long or filamentous tongue, par- 
ticularly adapted for that purpose. As these birds are 
furthest removed from the types of their order, they 
consequently show a greater affinity to the Scansnres on 
one hand, and to the Fisnirostres on the other, than to 
the more perfect groups of the perchers, as seen in the 
Dentirontres and the Conirostres : like the scansorial 
creepers, the bill is slender, and the feet very short ; but 
there the comparison ceases. The scansorial birds derive 
their food entirely from insects ; and, in general, have a 
simple and pointed tongue: but those we are now to con- 
sider, are chiefly supported by vegetable juices, extracted 
by means of a very long tongue, always retractile, and 
either simply forked, or divided into so many slender 
filaments as to resemble a painter’s brush ; the bill, 
moreover, is so soft or delicate, that it is often incapable 
of grasping food, and appears, in the typical groups, 
principally intended to protect the tongue, as the chief 
member by which life is supported. 
(1()0.) The families of this tribe will be briefly 
noticed under three heads : — First, the humming birds 
(Trochilifke), which possess all the above characters in 
the greatest perfection ; secondly, the sunbirds (Cinnj/- 
ridai), where the feet are more lengthened; and, thirdly, 
such families as either have the tongue short, the feet 
very strong, or the bill notched : these three divisions, 
which form the aberrant group, are the hoopoe birds 
(Promeropidie), the Paradise birds {Puradisidee), and 
the honeysuckers {Meliphagidte). 
