Phaëthornis Longuemareus

It is believed by M. Bourcier and other continental ornithologists that the Phaëthorms Longuemareus and P. intermedius of Lesson are one and the same species; nevertheless, without doubting such good authorities, I have figured a well-known, but very different Brazilian bird under the latter title, and reserved the former for the present species; which course I know to be correct, as I possess the identical specimen from which Lesson’s figure and description were taken.

So regularly and so gradually do the species of the genus Phaëthornis advance both in size and colouring from the smallest to the largest, that it would be difficult to say to which genus of the group, as subdivided by Prince Charles L. Bonaparte, this bird should be assigned: if these subdivisions be generally adopted, it may remain where the Prince has placed it, with the Pygmornes, in which case it will be the largest species of that genus.

If any one member of the Phaëthornes be more commonly sent to Europe than another, it is the bird here represented, which is a native of Guiana, Cayenne and Trinidad. Mr. William Tucker informs me that in the latter country it frequents shady places among the high woods; and he adds that the sexes are alike in colouring.

Crown of the head greyish-brown; ear-coverts and chin dull black; all the upper surface, wing- and tailcoverts bronzy-brown; wings purplish-brown; under surface, superciliary mark, and stripe from the angle of the mouth buff; under tail-coverts grey; tail bronzy-green at the base, succeeded by bronzy blackishbrown, which gradually fades into grey near the tip of the two central feathers;; all the feathers tipped with white; the tips of the lateral ones tinged with buff; upper mandible black; basal two-thirds of the under mandible yellow, the tip black; feet pure yellow.

The Plate represents the birds of the natural size. The plant is the Neptunia plena.

References

More hummingbirds in the genus Pygmornis

• Phaëthornis Amaura Amaura Hermit
• Phaëthornis viridicaudata Green-tailed Hermit
• Paëthornis zonura Southern Hermit
• Phaëthornis Adolphi Adolph’s Hermit
• Phæthornis griseogularis Grey-throated Hermit
• Phaëthornis striigularis Stripe-throated Hermit
• Phaëthornis obscura Obscure Hermit
• Phaëthornis nigricinctus Belted Hermit
• Phaëthornis Episcopus Bishop Hermit
• Phaëthornis Eremita Little Hermit
• Phaëthornis pygmæus Pigmy Hermit