Birds of America
By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.
VOLUME IV.
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.