185 
FAMILY XXIY. — TRO CHILINiE. HUMMING-BIRDS. 
Bill long, very slender, straight or arched, somewhat depressed at the 
base, subcylindrical, flexible, acute. Head rather large ; neck of moderate 
length ; body moderately l-obust. Feet very short, rather stout ; tarsus 
extremely short; toes of modei’ate 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 compressed, 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 extremely 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, moderately 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. HUMMING-BIRD. 
Bill long, subulate, depressed at the base, cylindrical, straight, or slightly 
arehed, flexible ; upper mandible with the ridge narrow at the base, convex 
in the rest of its extent, 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 glpssy above. Wings very long, 
extremely narrow; tail rather long, broad, nearly even. The other charac- 
ters as above. 
Vol. IV. 
26 
