THE LIVING WORLD. 
285 
below the line of perpetual congelation, at an elevation of from 12,000 to 13,000- 
feet above sea-level. It occasionally feeds upon the thinly scattered shrubs in 
this icy region, but most frequently upon the projecting ledges of rocks near 
the snow. Its food appears principally to consist of minute insects.” 
Another species (O. guerenii), very like that described by Linden, is found at 
the high altitudes of the Columbian Andes. The coloring of neither is very 
brilliant. 
Avocet Hummer ( Trochilus recurvirostris ) is the name of a species 
inhabiting Guiana, remarkable for the shape of its bill, which turns upward at 
the point, like that of the Avocet, after which it is called. On account of its 
comparative rarity, or residence within the deepest forests, very little is known 
of its habits. Swainson suggests, as a cause for this singular recurvation of 
bill, that the bird’s principal sustenance may be drawn from the bignoniee and 
similar plants, whose corollas are long and generally bent in their tubes; the 
nectar, being 
at the bottom, 
could not be 
reached read¬ 
ily either by a 
straight or in- 
curved bill, 
though very 
easily by one 
corresponding 
to the shape of 
the flower. 
The species is 
uncommon. 
The Sickle 
Bill (Trochilus 
n n u 1 1 n \ nrp TROCHILUS ANNA, AND CURVED-BEAK OR HORNED HUMMER AND SPARKI.ING TAIL. 
Lt LV L L LL ] pic- AVOCET 
sents a feature 
equally as curious as that observed in the foregoing species. Instead of the 
bill turning upward, however, it makes a sharp turn downward, which gives 
to it a sickle shape, hence the name. Like the previous species, too, it is 
very rare and little understood; whenever found it has always been at an ele¬ 
vation of at least ten thousand feet above sea-level. 
The Trouser, or Puff-Leg (T. cupreoventris) , is also an altitudinous 
dweller, being rarely found below nine thousand feet, and is confined to a very 
narrow strip of ground in the Andean regions. It is small in size, but of a 
most exquisite appearance, with head, neck and back washed with shining- 
green, and toward the tail coverts a metallic lustre; the wings are a blending 
of brown and purple, and the tail black, with purple gloss. The abdomen is of 
a coppery lustre, from which fact it is scunetimes called the copper-bellied puff- 
leg; but the most curious feature about this bird, and from which the more 
popular name is derived, are the puffs of white down, very much resembling 
the toilet puff-ball, which envelop the legs and thighs, imparting a most 
singular appearance. 
The White-Booted Racket Tail (Spathura underwoodii ) very much 
