This species was named by me Chlorostilbon acuticaudus in 1860; but it had been called by Drs. Cabanis and Heine Panychlora stenura in the same year; and their name apparently having been published before mine, I have adopted it in the present work.
P. stenura is very nearly allied to P. poortmani and P. aliciæ, but may be distinguished by its extremely narrow and pointed outer tail-feathers, and by the colour of the throat, which is bright green instead of very dark green, as in P. aliciæ, or shining grass-green, as in P. poortmani. These differences are well shown by Mr. Elliot in his key to the species of Panychlora.
The habitat of this species appears to be Venezuela and Colombia—Mr. Goering having met with it in the highlands of Merida in the former country, while Mr. Wyatt procured it at Ocaña in the latter.
The following diagnosis of the species is extracted from Mr. Elliot’s Synopsis:—
Male. Crown glittering green; upper surface and tail golden green. Under surface shining grass-greev. Wings purplish brown. Bill black. Total length 3 inches, wing 1\(\frac{5}{8}\), tail 1, bill \(\frac{3}{4}\).
Female or young male has the rectrices golden green, the lateral one with ashy tips. Underparts grey. Upper parts golden green.
An adult male and female are represented in the Plate. The specimens were kindly lent to me by Messrs. Salvin and Godman.
Featuring all 422 illustrated species from John Gould’s A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds arranged by color.
Humming-Birds
