The food of the Humming Birds is now well ascertained to be principally insects. We regard the conclusion, also, as unavoidable, that the moisture contained in flowers is their drink only, and not capable alone of supporting life. The tongue appears to be the principal organ used both in capturing insects and in procuring the fluid portion of their subsistence, and is constructed in a manner peculiarly adapted to these purposes. It is long, and composed of two parallel tubes (like a double-barrelled gun), furnished with the necessary apparatus of muscles for sucking, and thus enabling the bird to reach the drops of moisture or the fluid secretions contained very frequently in the corollas of flowers, more abundant in some species than others. The tongue is flattened, and sometimes barbed towards the end, or margined with fringe-like appendages, evidently designed to be of material service in feeding on minute flies or other small and soft insects. It admits, too, of being darted outwards, like that of the woodpeckers, and in the manner thus indicated it is very probable that their food is secured. A large space on the throat is generally the most beautiful part of the plumage of the birds of this family. Frequently, however, the top of the head and the entire under parts of the body are clothed in colors of the most surpassing brilliancy. The upper parts are usually plainer. In the countries where these birds are most abundant, and even in others of South America, some species of Humming Birds are spread over a vast extent of territory;—other species are well known to be peculiar to quite restricted localities. Many inhabit only the warmest districts;—others are found only in mountain-valleys, thousands of feet above the level of the sea. One of the most beautiful Humming Birds, the Polytmus (_Trochilus polytmus_), a large species, having the plumage mainly of a most exquisite green, with the top of the head jet black, and with the tail excessively long, inhabits only the island of Jamaica, and it is quite probable that every island of the West Indies produces species which are to be found in no other. In some sections, they are exceedingly numerous. Mr. Gosse, in his valuable volume on the Birds of Jamaica, mentions having seen “no less than a hundred come successively to rifle the blossoms within the space of half as many yards in the course of a forenoon.” We have been informed of instances of the ruby-topaz Humming Bird (_T. moschitus_) having occurred in the island of Trinidad in even greater abundance. In allusion to the general abundance of these birds in the countries where they abound, and as a sketch of their habits, we transcribe the following from “A Voyage up the Amazon,” from an excellent observer and agreeable writer, our friend, Mr William H. Edwards, of New York: