Jacobin
Brazil, Trinidad, New Granada, Bogota, and Guatemala
This species is one of the most widely diffused of the Trochilidæ with which I am acquainted; it is also one of the oldest known, and consequently one of the species most abundant in our collections: I have specimens from Guiana, Trinidad, Cayenne, Sta Fé de Bogota and Peru; and Mr. Wallace, who is seeking Humming-Birds expressly for my work, has lately sent numerous specimens of both sexes from Cobati and Guia on the Upper Rio Negro,—a tolerable evidence that the species ranges over all the districts lying between the distant countries of Cayenne and Peru.
It appears to be better adapted for low and fluviatile countries than for those of a more elevated character; for Mr. Wallace, writing from the Rio Negro, says, “Although I have come seventeen hundred miles from Para into the interior of the country, I am not more than one or two hundred feet above the level of the sea.” It is much to be regretted that no account whatever has been recorded of its habits, &c.
A great diversity exists in the colouring of this species, and much has yet to be learnt as to the changes to which it is subject; examples, apparently adult, have in some instances the head and neck intense blue, while in others the same parts are strongly tinged with green: I also have specimens in which the blue colouring is interrupted by a mark of rufous extending down the sides of the neck; and others, the sex of which has been ascertained by dissection to be feminine, which have a considerable amount of blue pervading the throat, and only a trace of the white nuchal band; while others again are characterized by the mottled dress represented in the lower figure of the accompanying Plate: the colouring of the tail presents a still greater diversity, varying from a pearly white, with a narrow edging of purplish brown, to a dark bronzy green, with a brownish black band towards the extremity, and the outer feathers broadly tipped with white.
His Excellency Lord Harris, Governor of Trinidad, has lately brought fine examples from thence to this country and presented them to the Zoological Society of London; and his Lordship has kindly promised that on his return to the seat of his government he will pay considerable attention to the natural history of the Trochilidæ inhabiting that fine island, and communicate the result of his observations for the enrichment of the present work; I trust, therefore, before its close to clear up the confusion which at present exists with respect to the changes of plumage to which this and other species are subject.
Some adult males have the head, neck and breast rich deep shining blue margined posteriorly with green, a broad lunate mark of white at the nape of the neck; wing-coverts, back, the very lengthened tail-coverts and the flanks shining dark grass-green; wings deep purplish brown; tail white, very narrowly edged and more broadly tipped with purplish brown; abdomen, thighs and under tail-coverts white; bill black; feathers clothing the tarsi in front black, behind white.
Other adult males have the head and neck greenish blue, the green hue increasing in intensity posteriorly; a broad band across the breast and the flanks shining olive-green, and the upper surface and tail-coverts shining golden green.
And again, other males, perhaps not fully adult, have the head and neck greenish blue; the white nuchal mark less extensive; a like diversity in the hue of the upper surface, some being green and others bronzy; the tail white, much more deeply tipped with purplish brown, the extent of the purplish brown tipping being greatest on the central feathers, and gradually decreasing towards the outer ones.
In another, which may be a young male, the general colouring is similar, but the tail is deep bronzy green passing into black near the extremity, with the outer three feathers on each side tipped with white, broadest on the outer one, and successively less on the two inner ones; the basal portion of the external web of the outer feather is also white; under tail-coverts greenish grey, with a broad crescent of bluish black near the extremity, and tipped with white.
In the female, or perhaps the young, the head is greenish brown; upper surface mottled glossy green and coppery; tail as in the last described; throat variegated, the centre of each feather being brown surrounded with a fringe of white; under tail-coverts greenish grey, with a crescent of black near the extremity, and tipped with white. It is to the bird in this state that the term fimbriatus has been applied.
The Plate represents two males and a supposed female; the beautiful plant figured is the Erythrina umbrosa of Humboldt and Bonpland.
Featuring all 422 illustrated species from John Gould’s A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds arranged by color.
Humming-Birds
