Here again I am indebted to M. Bourcier, this gentleman having kindly lent me his unique specimen of this, the fourth species of the genus Gouldia, and one of the most interesting of the Trochilidæ.
1 regret to say, that the female is at present unknown; in the absence, then, of that sex, I have figured the male in two positions on the accompanying Plate. It will scarcely be necessary to point out the distinguishing characters of this species, as, by even the most cursory glance at the figures given of this and the other members of the genus, they will at once be seen; I may state, however, that they consist in the brilliant colouring, not only of the face alone, but of the entire head, in the smaller size of the tail, and in the pointed form of the outer feathers of that organ. The white mark on the rump is common to all the members of the genus.
MM. Bourcier and Mulsant, who first described the species, state that it is a native of Bolivia, and that they have dedicated it “à la jeune enfant de Mme. la Marquise Delgallo, fille de '’un des Ornithologistes les plus célèbres de l'Europe, M. le Prince Charles Bonaparte.”
Head, face, throat and breast glittering green, tinged with a golden hue on the crown, and at the sides of the neck and lower part of the breast; upper surface golden brown, changing to coppery brown on the rump, across which is the usual band of white; first row of upper tail-coverts violet-red, the remainder golden green; wings purplish brown; tail bluish black; flanks golden; abdomen green, ornamented on the upper part with a patch of white feathers bordered with green; vent grey; under tail-coverts dark golden green, bordered with violaceous black, and narrowly fringed with fulvous; bill brown.
The figures are of the natural size.
Featuring all 422 illustrated species from John Gould’s A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds arranged by color.
Humming-Birds
