Family XXIV. TROCHILINAE. HUMMING-BIRDS.
GENUS II. SELASPHORUS, Swains. RUFFED-HUMMING-BIRD

Bill long, straight, subulate, extremely slender, somewhat depressed at the base, acute; upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, the ridge narrow at the base, broad and convex toward the end, the sides convex, the edges overlapping, the tip accuminate; lower mandible with the angle very long and extremely narrow, the dorsal line straightish, the edges erect, the tip acuminate. Nostrils basal, linear. Head of ordinary size, oblong; neck short; body short and ovate. Feet very small; tarsus very short, feathered more than half-way; toes small, the lateral equal, the third not much longer, the first a little shorter than the lateral; claws rather long, arched, compressed, very acute. Plumage soft and blended; elongated feathers on the sides of the neck in the males. Wings rather short, falcate, pointed, the second primary longest. Tail rather long, broad, graduated.