Mr. Whitely has met with this species only on Roraima in British Guiana.
It is described by Messrs. Salvin and Godman as being allied to P. anais and of the same size, but with the throat much more blue, the whole of the lower throat more blue, and the forehead suffused with blue. The authors observe respecting it:—
Mr. Whitely obtained a pair of this species in the neighbourhood of Roraima, the male at an elevation of 5000 feet, the female at 6000 feet. Though the difference between the present bird and P. anais of the Andes is not great, we feel justified in separating them, the ranges of the two being doubtless broken by the low-lying lands of the Orinoco valley. It is, no doubt, this species which Schomburgk mentions in his list of Guiana birds (‘Reise in Guiana,’ iii. p. 707).
The Plate represents an adult male in two positions.
[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
