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50 2 The Hijlory of ANIMALS. 
TROCHILUS. 
T H E beak of the Trochilus is of a fubulated figure, but fine as a thread; it is 
not perfedly draight, and is longer than the head: the whole bird is very 
minute. 
!Trochilus aureus purpure variegatus . 
The gold and purple Trochilus . 
3Cl)e pellotP $um= 
This is the fmalled of all the known birds5 our larged fpecies of the humble-bee is 
very nearly equal to it in fize: the head is fmall and rounded ; the beak is long, very 
flender, and turns upward toward the extremity ; the eyes are minute, but very bright: 
the legs are extreamly fmall: the colour in the female is perfedly, and without varie¬ 
gation, yellow j in the male there is a beautiful tinge of purple thrown in the way of a 
changeable colour over the head and neck, and in fome degree over the bread: 3 and* 
in the male, the yellow is alfo more bright and glittering than in the female. 
This is a native of many parts of America, and feeds on the honey juices of flow¬ 
ers, which it fucks in the fame manner as the bee, and often is on the wing all the 
time it is feeding. The late authors on thefe fubjeds have all mentioned it. They call 
it Mellivora and Tomineio, 
Trochilus viridefce?ts . 
The green Trochilus . 
Xlje green $umnring4u'ri». 
This, though very minute, is a little larger than the other, and is yet more beau¬ 
tiful : the head is fmall and round 3 the beak is long, and extreamly flender, and turns 
up toward the point: the eyes are minute, and their iris of a gold yellow : the whole 
bird is of the fame uniform colour, which is the mod: elegant green imaginable, with 
a fhade of a deep changeable blue on many parts, and particularly about the head and 
neck: the wings are long, and of a brighter green than any other part 3 the legs and 
feet are wonderfully fmall: the diminutive fize and Angular colouring of thefe birds 
are incidents fo linking, that there requires little more to be faid to charaderife and 
diftinguifh them. 
This is a native of the fame parts of America with the former, and the fame 
writers have defcribed it. 
Trochilus purpurafcens . 
The purple Trochilus . 
purple itmmmi'ng4n'rti. 
This is the mod: beautiful of the three fpecies, and is of a middle fize between the 
other two : the head is very fmall, and almod perfedly round 5 the eyes are minute, 
and their iris of a gold yellow : the beak is of nearly twice the length of the head, 
and is flender as a thread of filk 5 of a deep gloffy brown, and turned upwards at the 
extremity : ’ the legs are very minute, and the feet of an elegant and beautiful druc- 
ture: the head is of a deep blood colour, with a fhade of a changeable hue, that ap¬ 
pears at fird fight to be black, but is in reality a very deep blue : the neck is fome- 
what paler than the head 5 the whole upper furface is of a bright and beautiful purple, 
and the bread: and belly of the fame colour, only of a paler tinge ; there is fome of 
the changeable blue diffufed alfo over the back, but none of it on the bread. 
This is a native of the fame parts of the world with the former, and is frequently 
brought over by way of curiofity, among the other fpecies. They are fo fmall, and fo 
elegantly coloured, that the women of fome parts of America wear them in their 
ears by way of pendants. 
S I T T A. 
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