Varied as have been the subjects hitherto referred to in the present volume, and beautiful as is the colouring of many of the species, the next genus is composed of birds which cannot boast of any brilliancy of colouring; on the contrary, they are clothed in very sombre attire, and have nothing to recommend them to our notice but chaste and delicate hues; still in my opinion they are not the less interesting.
Adelomyia inornata
Habitat: Bolivia
Plate 197 Adelomyia inornata Purple-throated AdelomyiaAdelomyia melanogenys
Habitat: New Granada
Plate 198 Adelomyia melanogenys Black-eared AdelomyiaPrecisely the same kind of difference occurs between examples of this form from Venezuela and Ecuador that has been described as occurring with regard to the Metallura tyrianthina and M. Quitensis. The species of Adelomyia inhabiting Ecuador and Peru is very considerably larger than the A. melanogenys from Venezuela; it has more buff at the base of the tail-feathers, and a much more conspicuously spotted throat and breast; for this Ecuadorian bird I therefore propose the name of maculata:—
Featuring all 422 illustrated species from John Gould’s A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds arranged by color.