Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/71

58 The Hoopoe usually builds in hollow trees, forming a nest of a few stalks and blades of dry grass mingled with feathers; here it lays from four to seven eggs of a pale bluish-grey hue.

Some species of this Family (as the genus Epimachus, .) are remarkable for the singular development of the feathers of the sides, and for the metallic splendour of their scaly or velvety plumage. They rival the birds of Paradise in beauty, and resemble them in some peculiarities of structure; they inhabit also the same region, the immense island of New Guinea.

The numerous species of this Family are birds of diminutive size, but of brilliant plumage, at least in the principal genera, the feathers reflecting metallic and gemmed lustre of various hues



in most cases; in some, however, being of rich colours without effulgence. The beak is more or less lengthened, arched, and very slender, generally entire; the tongue, capable of being protruded, is divided at the tip into filaments, sometimes so numerous as to form a sort of pencil or brush, for the purpose of collecting minute