The single specimen I possess of this curious bird was brought to this country by M. Warszewicz, and was, I believe, collected during his last journey into Bolivia; but of this I am not certain.
It is doubtless a mountain species, and probably inhabits, like the Ramphomicron Stanleyi, the shrubby sides of the interior of some extinct voleano. It is perhaps more nearly allied to that species than to any other, but differs from it in the colouring of its luminous throat-mark. The acquisition of only a single specimen of this species tends to confirm the opinion I have elsewhere expressed that many new species of Humming-Birds will yet be discovered among the towering Andes.
The following is a copy of my original description of this bird, published in Sir William Jardine’s ‘Contributions to Ornithology’ for 1852.
Head, sides, back of the neck and wing-coverts greenish brown; back and rump deep violet blue; wings purplish brown; upper tail-coverts and tail dark bluish green; down the centre of the throat a series of scale-like feathers, broad at the chin and tapering to a point on the breast, the upper part of which is of a brilliant metallic emerald-green, passing into steely amethystine blue; under surface dark brownish grey; under tail-coverts greyish white, with a streak of steel-blue down the centre of each feather; bill and feet black.
Total length 4\(\frac{1}{2}\) inches; bill \(\frac{9}{16}\); wing 2\(\frac{5}{8}\); tail 2\(\frac{1}{4}\).
Remark.—Nearly allied to R. Stanleyi, but of a much smaller size; greyer on the breast, and the lower part of the beard steely amethystine blue, with little or none of the reddish tinge seen in that species.
The figures are of the natural size. The plant is the Sida Pichinchensis.
Featuring all 422 illustrated species from John Gould’s A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds arranged by color.
Humming-Birds
