TROCHILIN^. TROCHILUS. 
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rather large ; neck of moderate length ; body moderately 
robust. Feet very short, rather stout; tarsus extremely 
short ; toes of moderate size ; the anterior coherent at the 
base, and nearly of equal length, the hind toe articulated 
high on the tarsus ; claws rather long, arched, much com- 
pressed, very acute. Plumage compact above, soft and 
blended beneath, often with metallic lustre ; wings very 
long, extremely narrow, falciform, with the first quill longest, 
the other primaries rapidly diminishing ; secondaries ex- 
tremely short. Tail various, of ten feathers. Tongue very 
long, slender, with two flat, thin-edged terminal filaments, 
and extensile by means of the elongation of the hyoid bones, 
which curve over the head to the fore part of the forehead, 
and with their muscles slide in a groove, like those of the 
Woodpeckers. CEsophagus narrow, considerably enlarged 
about the middle ; stomach extremely small, roundish, mo- 
derately muscular, its epithelium dense and longitudinally 
rugous ; intestine very short and of moderate width ; no 
coeca ; cloaca globular. Trachea simple, but divided very 
high up on the neck, so that the bronchi are of excessive 
length, with a large pair of inferior laryngeal muscles. 
GENUS I. TROCHILUS, Linn. HUMMINGBIRD. 
Bill long, subulate, depressed at the base, cylindrical, 
straight, or slightly arched, flexible ; upper mandible with 
the ridge narrow at the base, convex in the rest of its ex- 
tent, the sides sloping, the edges soft ; lower mandible with 
the angle extremely acute and elongated, the sides erect, 
the tip acute. Nostrils linear, with a membranous flap 
above. Head small ; neck short ; body moderately stout- 
Feet very short ; middle toe scarcely longer than the rest. 
Plumage rather blended and glossy above. Wings very 
long, extremely narrow ; tail rather long, broad, nearly even. 
The other characters as above. 
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