Tenuirostres.
The Passerine Tenuirostres are characterised by a long slender beak, straight or curved, but always without indentation. They are insectivorous, and comprise the Hoopoes, Humming-birds, Creepers, and Nuthatches.
The Hoopoes (Upupa, Linn.) have the beak long, slender, triangular, and slightly curved. This group, which Mr. Gray designates the Upupidæ, includes a number of birds whose general form presents the greatest analogy, but which possess their own peculiarities of plumage and special physiognomy. This has necessitated its subdivision into sub-genera, of which the Hoopoes (Upupa), the Promerops (Brisson), and the Epimachus are worthy of notice.
Fig. 204.—Hoopoes (Upupa epops, Linn.).
The Hoopoes are easily recognised from the double range of plumes which form an arched crest on their head, which they have the power of raising at pleasure. These feathers are, in the Common Hoopoe, of a ruddy buff colour, tipped with black. They are solitary birds, living by preference in low grounds and humid places, where they prey on the worms, insects, and terrestrial mollusks. They are migratory, and are occasionally found in the British Islands in autumn: instances have occurred of their breeding there. They take their departure for warmer regions in September. They have a light and graceful walk, and nearly pass their existence on the ground, rarely perching, and flying with visible effort. They have no song, and only utter two notes, which may be rendered by the syllables zi, zi; houp, houp. They nest in the clefts of rocks or walls, and in holes in the trunks of trees. When captured young, they become very tame, and seem to be susceptible of great attachment to those who take care of them.
The Hoopoe ([Fig. 204]) is found in summer as far north as Denmark and Sweden; and southward, in France and Italy, at Gibraltar and Ceuta, and in Egypt, where it breeds, as it probably does over Northern Africa. It has been seen occasionally at Madeira, and is abundant at Trebisond, whence it comes every year to pass the summer season in Europe. During the spring and summer it abounds all over France. At the period of its departure—that is to say, in the month of September—it is plump enough to be a choice morsel for the table, as its flesh is very delicate.
The Epimachus are remarkably beautiful birds. When at maturity the side-feathers develop themselves in delicate lines or elegant panicles, while their plumage, richly coloured, is brilliant with diaphanous metallic reflections. Little is known of their habits. They are natives of Australia and New Guinea. The very remarkable species, E. multifil ([Fig. 205]), has six long fillets on each side of its body. The equally striking species, E. magnus, has the elongated side-feathers raised and curling, of a glittering steel blue, azure, and emerald green; the breast and belly lustrous with the same diaphanous tints. This bird is an inhabitant of New Guinea.
Fig. 205.—Epimachus (Epimachus multifil).
The Promerops are distinguished from the other Upupinæ by the absence of the crest, by their very long tail, and by their forked and extensible tongue. They are natives of Africa, and their habits, like those of the former, are little known.
The Colibri of Cuvier may be divided into Humming-birds (Trochilidæ), or species having the beak straight, and true Colibri, having the beak curved. With this slight difference, the Trochilidæ and Colibri closely resemble each other. They have the same slight, elegant figure, the same brilliancy of plumage, and the same habits—describe the one, and you describe the other. We must be permitted, therefore, to treat of them together.
The Humming-birds (Trochilidæ) are the most lovely of the winged race. Nature seems to have endowed them with her rarest gifts. In creating them she surpassed herself, and exhausted all the charms at her disposal; for she imbued them with grace, elegance, rapidity of motion, magnificence of plumage, and indomitable courage. What can be more delightful than the sight of these little feathered beauties, flashing with the united fires of the ruby, the topaz, the sapphire, and the emerald, flying from flower to flower amid the richest tropical vegetation? Such are the lightness and rapidity of some of the smaller species, that the eye can scarcely follow the quick beat of the wings. When they hover they seem perfectly motionless, and one might fancy they were suspended by some invisible thread.
Specially adapted for an aërial life, they are unceasingly in motion, searching for their food in the calyx of flowers, from which they drink the nectar with so much delicacy and address that the plant is scarcely stirred. But the juice and honey of flowers, as some authors affirm, are not their only food—such unsubstantial diet would be insufficient to sustain the prodigious activity displayed almost every moment of their existence.
The tongue of the Humming-bird is a microscopic instrument of marvellous arrangement. It is composed of two half-tubes placed one against the other, capable of opening and shutting like a pair of pliers. Moreover, it is constantly moistened by a glutinous saliva, by which it is enabled to seize and hold insects—an arrangement not without its analogy in the Woodpeckers.
Proud of their gay colours, the Humming-birds take the greatest care to protect their plumage. They frequently dress themselves by passing their feathers through their bills. Their vivacity often amounts to petulance, and they frequently manifest belligerent propensities not to be expected in such minute creatures. They attack birds much larger than themselves, harassing and pursuing them without intermission, threatening their eyes, and always succeeding in putting them to flight. They frequently contend with each other. If two males meet on the calyx of a flower, bristling with anger, and uttering their cry, they rush on one another. After the conflict is over the conqueror returns to reap the reward of his valour.
Fig. 206.—Nest of Humming-bird.
The nest of the Humming-bird ([Fig. 206]) is a masterpiece. It is about the size of half an apricot. The materials are brought by the male, and arranged by the female. These consist of lichens, and are most artistically interwoven, the crevices being closed up with the bird's saliva: the interior is padded with the silky fibres furnished by various plants. This pretty cradle is suspended to a leaf, sometimes to a small branch, bundle of rushes, or even to the straw roof of a hut. The hen bird lays twice a year a pair of eggs of a pure white, about the size of a pea.
After an incubation of six days the young are hatched; a week later they are capable of flight. During the breeding season the males are tender and demonstrative, and both parents show much affection for their progeny.
These little creatures are universally admired for their elegance and beauty, and the names given them are generally descriptive of their excessive minuteness. The creoles of the Antilles call them Murmurers; the Spaniards Picaflores; the Brazilians Chupaflores, or Flower-suckers; finally, the Indians call these darlings Sunbeams.
Humming-birds are much sought after—not for their flesh, which is valueless from its minute quantity, but for their feathers: these ladies turn to various uses, such as collars, pendants for the ears, &c. Some of the Indian races which have been converted to Christianity employ them to decorate the images of their favourite saints. The Mexicans and Peruvians formerly employed them for trimming mantles. The French soldiers who shared in the Mexican expedition report that pictures with the feathers of the Humming-bird are fresh, brilliant, and effective.
Humming-birds cannot be preserved in captivity—not that they do not become familiar and affectionate, but their extreme delicacy unfits them for confinement, and in spite of the utmost care that can be bestowed on them, they will die in a few months. In their habitat they are killed with very small shot or with the sarbacane: if desired alive, they are taken with a butterfly net.
Among the most formidable enemies of the Trochilidæ may be reckoned the Monster Spider (Mygale avicularia), which spins its web round their nests, and devours eggs or little ones; even the old birds are sometimes its victims. Humming-birds are scattered over the whole of South and North America, even as far north as Canada; but in Brazil and Guiana they are most abundant. At least five hundred species are known. Cuvier included them in his genus Colibri. Mr. Gould has described three hundred of which he has actual specimens; these he divides into fifty-two genera. Among the more remarkable species we may note the Topaz-throated Trochilus (T. pella, Gould), a native of Brazil; the Sickle-winged Humming-bird (Trochilus falcatus, Sw.); Gould's Humming-bird (Ornismya Gouldii, Less.); the Double-crested Humming-bird (Trochilus cornutus, Wied.); Cora Humming-bird (Ornismya cora, Less.); the Giant Humming-bird, which attains the size of the Swallow; the Dwarf Humming-bird, whose size does not exceed that of a bee; the Bar-tailed Humming or Sapho Bird of Lesson ([Fig. 207]), a native of Eastern Peru; and the Racket-tailed Humming-bird, so named from the shape of its tail, which spreads out at the extremity in the form of a racket.
Fig. 207.—Bar-tailed Humming-bird (Trochilus sparganurus, Lesson).
The Climbers (Scansores, Vig.) among birds, such as the Woodpeckers, are characterised by an arched beak and a stiff pointed tail. The family comprehends several genera and sub-genera, of which the principal are the Climbers, properly so called, as the Creepers (Certhia), the Wall-Creepers (Tichodroma), the Picumnus, the Furnarius, the Sucriers, the Soui-mangas, and the Nuthatches (Sitta).
Fig. 208.—The Creeper (Certhia familiaris, Linn.).
The Creepers (Certhia) are small Climbing birds which live and build their nests in the holes they bore in the trunk or in the natural hollows of trees: the insects to be found under the bark are their food. Looking at the form of their slender beak, it is difficult to imagine how it can penetrate the hard covering of an oak, for which they exhibit a marked preference. The Tree-Creeper (Certhia familiaris) is spread over nearly every European country, and is very common in France. The Wall-Creeper (Tichodroma muraria, C. Bonap.), called also Wall-Climber (the Grimpereau des Murailles of French authors), owes its name to its habit of climbing the walls of dwellings. Supporting-points are not found in their tails, as in the Woodpeckers. Grasping the tree with their claws, they assist their feet by a slight movement of the wings. They feed on insects, and lead a solitary life on the mountains, only descending into the plains with the early frosts of winter. They are found diffused over all the South of Europe.
The Picumnus (Climacteris picumnus, Temm.) have form and habits very similar to the Creeper, but the beak is stronger and more boldly curved. They are natives of Brazil and Guiana.
Fig. 209.—Furnarius (Furnarius, Lesson).
The Furnarius (Furnarius figulus, Spix.) live singly or in pairs in the plains of Chili, Brazil, and Guiana. They feed principally on seeds, but also on insects. They take up their residence with much confidence in the neighbourhood of man. Their nests ([Fig. 209]) are remarkable for their construction, being in the form of an oven, whence their name. This structure it builds upon trees, on palisades, or on the window of a house. It is remarkable for its size as compared with its inhabitant, measuring not less than from twelve to fourteen inches in diameter; it is entirely formed of clay, and the interior is divided by a partition into two compartments, the outer and inner, the latter being that in which the female lays her eggs. The male and female alternately bring small balls of earth, out of which the edifice is constructed, and they labour so industriously that it is sometimes finished in two days. Some species construct their nests on trees, interlacing them with spiny branches, and providing one or many openings; that of the Annumbi is fifteen inches in diameter by twenty inches in height.
The Sucriers (Cinnyridæ) are American birds, so called from their attachment to saccharine substances. They feed on honey they extract from flowers, and the sap from the sugar-cane, the juice of which they suck through crevices in the stem. Like the Humming-birds, they have the tongue divided into two parts, by which they are enabled to seize insects, which form a part of their food. They are small in size, and their plumage is brilliantly coloured. Among the Cinnyridæ we find the Guits-guits, ingenious little creatures which construct a nest in the form of a horn, which is suspended from the flexible branches of a shrub: in order to protect their young from the attacks of earwigs, the opening is below.
Fig. 210.—Sun-birds (Certhia chalybeia, Linn.).
The Soui-mangas ([Fig. 210]) have the same partiality for sugar exhibited by the last, justifying their name, which signifies "sugar-eater" in the Malagash tongue. They are natives of Southern Africa and India, and represent in the Old World the Humming-birds of the New. They are gay and sprightly, and decked in the most brilliant colours. Like the other Cinnyridæ, they love to plunge their tongue into the corolla of flowers and extract its sweets. Their most brilliant colours are displayed in the breeding season.
Fig. 211.—Common Nuthatch (Sitta europæa, Gould).
The Nuthatches (Sitta), [Fig. 211], have the beak straight, pyramidal, and pointed, covered at the base with small feathers directed forward; the long toes are furnished with claws strong and crooked; their habitat resembles that of the Creepers. The Nuthatch is found in Oceania.