This species, the type of which is in the celebrated collection of the late Count Turati at Milan, is an inhabitant of Colombia, but nothing is known respecting its range or exact habitat.
Mr. Elliot possesses a second specimen in his collection, also from Colombia, and a third is in Messrs. Salvin and Godman’s Collection, said to have been shot near Hondo, in the valley of the Magdalena River, Colombia.
The following description of the species is borrowed from Mr. Elliot’s well-known ‘Synopsis of the Trochilidæ,’ where he states that it may be told from its allies by its bronzy tail and by the metallic blue of the forehead and crown:—
Male. Forehead and centre of crown blue, graduating into greenish blue near the occiput; remainder of the upper part of the head very dark grass-green, black in some lights. Throat green, with a small metallicviolet spot in the centre. A broad white band across the throat. Abdomen, flanks, and under tail-coverts glittering grass-green. Upper tail-coverts metallic violet-red. Tail dark greenish bronze. Bill black. Total length 5 inches, wing 2\(\frac{11}{16}\), tail 2\(\frac{1}{8}\), culmen 1\(\frac{3}{8}\).
The female is unknown.
Mr. Elliot kindly lent the specimen from which the two figures in the Plate are drawn, an adult male being represented in two positions and of the size of life.
[R. B. S.]
Featuring all 422 illustrated species from John Gould’s A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds arranged by color.
Humming-Birds
