A Synopsis of the Birds of North America

by John James Audubon

Upper part of head and hind neck dull greyish-brown; back dull leaden-grey; quills and tail-feathers dusky, margined with light grey, the lateral two feathers on each side with a white band toward the base; lower parts brownish-white.

Adult, 3¹⁰/₁₂, wing, 3⁵/₁₂.

California.

Californian Nuthatch, Sitta pygmæa, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. v. p. 163.

FAMILY XXIV. TROCHILINÆ. HUMMINGBIRDS.

Bill long, very slender, straight or arched, somewhat depressed at the base, subcylindrical, flexible, acute. Head rather large; neck of moderate length; body moderately robust. Feet very short, rather stout; tarsus extremely short; toes of moderate 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. Œsophagus 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 cœca; 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. HUMMINGBIRD.

Bill long, subulate, depressed at the base, cylindrical, straight, or slightly arched, 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 glossy above. Wings very long, extremely narrow; tail rather long, broad, nearly even. The other characters as above.

251. 1. Trochilus Mango, Linn. Mango Hummingbird.