Humming-Birds

This unique bird has been in my collection for a long time; it was sent to me, with a number of other Humming-Birds, by Mr. Mark, Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul at Bogota, without any information as to where it was collected.

It has so many distinctive characters that it cannot be confounded with any other species, As I have nothing to add to the brief remark respecting it published in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London,’ I cannot do better than repeat them here.

This species differs from A. cerviniventris in the much greater depth of the chestnut colouring of the abdomen, under tail-coverts and tail; in size it is considerably less than that species, being even smaller than A. beryllina, to which it offers an alliance in the colouring of its wings, but from which it is distinguished by the chestnut red of its abdomen; the white feathers of the thighs are much developed and very conspicuous.

Crown of the head, upper part of the back, and shoulders reddish bronze; rump and upper tail-coverts reddish with a bronzy lustre; wings purplish brown, with the exception of the basal portions of the primaries and secondaries, which are rufous; tail dark chestnut, tipped with a bronzy lustre, which is most conspicuous on the centre feathers; throat, fore part of the neck, breast, and upper part of the abdomen shining golden green; under surface of the shoulders, lower part of the abdomen, and under tail-coverts fine chestnut red; thighs white; upper mandible brownish black; under mandible fleshy yellow, except at the tip, which is brownish black.

The figures are of the size of life. The plant is the Pitcairnia echinata.

References

Amazilius castaneiventris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxiv. p. 150.

Amazilia castaneiventris

References

More hummingbirds in the genus Pyrrhophæna

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