Thaumatias nitidifrons

Of the genus Thaumatias there are four birds which to the eye of the unpractised observer would appear to be one and the same, but which any person conversant with the Humming-Birds would at once pronounce to be distinct species.

The birds to which I allude are Thaumatias brevirostris, T. affinis, T. Milleri, and T. nitidifrons. It is the differences which distinguish the latter bird that I have now to point out.

All four of the birds are very similar in size and in the colouring of their tails; but the T. brevirostris and T. affinis are destitute of any brilliant colouring on the crown; on the other hand, the T. Milleri has a glittering crown and a white breast; while the T. nitidifrons differs in having both a brilliant crown and a brilliant breast—a union of characters which at once distinguishes it from its near allies.

The following is the description of this species, and the accompanying remark, which I published in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society,’ and which it will be as well to reprint, notwithstanding the repetition of what I have already said, in some parts of the concluding sentence.

Of its habitat nothing is at present known.

Crown of the head, face, chest, and breast glittering green; abdomen and flanks golden green; back, shoulders, and rump bronzy-green; tail pale bronzy greyish-green, with a zone of purplish-brown crossing the four lateral feathers on each side near their tips; under tail-coverts grey, with a patch of bronzy-green in the centre of each; tarsi greyish-brown; upper mandible black; under mandible yellow, black at the tip.

Remark.—Nearly allied to the T. brevirostris and T. Milleri, but differing from both in the glittering green of the face and crown, and in the centre of the breast being covered with the same shining colour. The specimen described was presented to me by G. N. Lawrence, Esq., when I visited New York in 1858.

The plate represents a specimen which appears to be a male of the size of life. The plant is the Tacsoma sanguinea.

References

More hummingbirds in the genus Thaumatias

• Thaumatias candidus White-breasted Emerald
• Thaumatias chionopectus Snowy-throated Emerald
• Thaumatias leucogaster White-throated Emerald
• Thaumatias viridiceps Green-headed Emerald
• Thaumatias Milleri Miller’s Emerald
• Thaumatias brevirostris Short-billed Emerald
• Thaumatias affinis Allied Emerald
• Thaumatias chionurus White-tailed Emerald
• Thaumatias albiventris White-bellied Emerald
• Thaumatias Linnæi Linnæus’ Emerald