Humming-Birds

Genus Heliangelus Gould

Generic characters.

Male.Bill straight, about the same length as the head, and cylindrical; wings somewhat powerful; tail rather round in form and of medium size; feet moderately strong; hind toe and nail the same length as the middle toe and nail; gorget luminous, bounded below by a crescent of white.

Female.—Destitute of luminous colouring.

This is perhaps a better-defined genus than any other of those into which the Andean groups of HummingBirds have been divided. Its characteristics are a moderately long bill surmounted by a band of lustrous colour on the forehead, and a deep luminous gorget separated from the general colour of the body by a semicircular band of white. Like the Heliantheæ and Heliotryphæ, the species of this form range along the Andes on both sides of the equator.



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Featuring all 422 illustrated species from John Gould’s A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds arranged by color.

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