HUMMING-BIRDS, a family of small birds, ..the Trocisilider, closely allied to the swifts, peculiar to America and almost exclu sively tropical. They are distinguished by small size,• iridescent plumage, long slender bill and• the peculiar form of the tongue, which con sidts of a double tube tapering and separating at the into two externally lacerated sheaths, which contain the extensile portion. ((The horns' of. the hyoid apparatus are greatly don gated,.and pass round and over the back of the head, meeting near the top, and thence stretch ing in an ample groove to. terminate in front of the eyes. This arrangement, analogous to that found in woodpeckers, allows the tongue to suddenly protruded to a considerable distance, and withdrawn again in an instant? This is a modification of parts adapted to food-getting habits, and is accompanied by ,others equally characteristic. Humming-birds feed almost en tirely upon living insects, especially those that gather about flowers and loiter in the corollas, feeding upon the nectar; or dwell on the leaves and bark of plants and trees. Such honey as may be taken with them seems to be gratefully accepted,. but the birds do not seek for, nor ((suck* the nectar from flowers, as has been popularly supposed. They will dart from a perch and capture an insect like a• flycatcher, but ordinarily they obtain them by poising upon their wings about leaves and in front of tree -trunks, picking up morsels, not with the manda bles, but with the tongue.; and still more fre quendy by •eatthing flowers. As it is in the deep, tubular, sweet corollas of trumpet-creepers, orchids and similar great blossoms of tropical Shrubs and• vines that insects most abound so there does the humming-bird find its richest hunting-ground; 'and the long curved beaks of most' species 'have been 'developed in the con stant 'effort to penetrate to the nectarous depths of these deep- blossoms; in truth, the head and half the tiny body often be pushed into the' flower, and in so doing gather and dispense pollen from 'flower to flower, so that hum ming-birds are important if not exclusive agents in the cross-fertilization' of certain flow eted plants. • (See • FLOWER% FERTILIZATION OF By BIRDS). This method of obtaining food re quires the power of sustaining themselves in the air in a fixed position while they explore leaves or blossoms, since no perch is available for their feet, which are small and weak at best. Hence humming-birds have developed
lightness of body coupled with extraordinary muscularity and extent of wings, which in most species reach far beyond the root of the tail. These long narrow wings are operated by pec toral muscles that proportionately exceed in size those of any other bird,— even those of the chimney-swifts; and these huge muscles actuate remarkable short wing-bones, so that extreme rapidity of movement is possible, but it is accom panied by a loss of that power secured by the relatively longer alar bones of other birds. By this apparatus the humming-birds are able to beat the air with a rapidity which enables them to sand still, or to dart and dodge_in pursuit of some agile insect, or in escaping danger, with a speed which defies human sight to trace; the moving wings at such times, indeed, appear only as a misty halo about the body of the bird, and make a loud humming noise. Most species have very long bills — frequently exceeding, and sometimes twice as long as the head; hut some have short, awl-like beaks, with which they pierce the base of such flowers as are too deep for them.
A characteristic of humming-birds is that flashing beauty of plumage which long ago led to calling them the gems of the air, and is due mainly to the quality of the feathers, upon the surface of which are small scales that reflect the light in prismatic hues, giving an iridescent or metallic sheen to certain parts, especially the throat (gorget), comparable only to the shards of some beetles. Such brilliance, however, be longs only to the males, the females being uni formly more plainly dressed, though still highly colored. In many species, also, the males are further adorned with fanciful crests, mustaches, tufts, pendants of the chin and throat, °puffs° upon the legs, and especially with ornamental developments of the tail-feathers; and these they seem to take great delight in displaying for the admiration of the female, and the ex asperation of rivals. They are extremely pug nacious, especially in the nuptial season, when constant and bitter fighting occurs, and their courage is so great that neither sex has any hesitation in attacking any bird that offends them or comes too near the nest,— even hawks and crows often flee ignominiously before the impetuous onslaughts of these little furies. On the other hand no bird is more fearless of man.