Mr. W. Tucker informs me that in Trinidad this species “frequents the pastures and open places, and visits the flowers of all the small shrubs, but is particularly fond of those of the Ipecacuanha plant, and that it is very pugnacious, erecting its crest, throwing out its whiskers, and attacking every Humming-Bird that may pass within its range of vision.”
Lophornis ornatus (Less.)
Habitat: Northern Brazil, Guiana, and Trinidad
Plate 117
Lophornis ornatus
Tufted Coquette
Mr. W. Tucker informs me that in Trinidad this species “frequents the pastures and open places, and visits the flowers of all the small shrubs, but is particularly fond of those of the Ipecacuanha plant, and that it is very pugnacious, erecting its crest, throwing out its whiskers, and attacking every Humming-Bird that may pass within its range of vision.”
Lophornis magnificus
Habitat: South-eastern Brazil
Plate 119
Lophornis magnificus
Frilled Coquette
Lophornis Regulus (Gould)
Habitat: Cochabamba in Bolivia
Plate 120
Lophornis Regulus
Great-Crested Coquette
I possess a bird of this genus from Peru, with a more truncate form of crest than that of L. Regulus, the fine feathers of which are rather largely tipped with spangles of dark green. This may probably prove to be, and I believe is, really distinct; I have consequently proposed for it the specific name of lophotes. In size and colouring it very closely resembles the L. Regulus, with the exceptional difference in the form of the crest.
Lophornis lophotes (Gould)
Habitat: Peru
No illustrations
Lophornis Reginæ (Gould)
Habitat: New Granada
Plate 122
Lophornis Reginæ
Spangled Coquette
Mr. Fraser, who killed an example at Zamora, in Ecuador, states that the irides of this species are black, and its mandibles reddish flesh-colour, with a black tip; he adds that it was feeding from a large Guarumba tree.
Lophornis Helenæ
Habitat: Guatemala and Southern Mexico
Plate 123
Lophornis Helenæ
Princess Helena’s Coquette
Mr. Salvin states that this species is not uncommon in the vicinity of Coban, and that its cry “is peculiarly shrill and unlike that of any other species I know; hence its presence may be noticed if only the cry of a passing bird be heard. It feeds among the Salvie that so abound in the mountain-hollows about Coban; and it is said also to show a partiality for the flowers of the Tasisco when that tree is in full bloom in the month of December. In the month of November females of this species are very rare. Of the specimens I collected, there was only one female to seventeen males.
“In the Indian language of Coban, Lophornis Helenæ has, besides the name ‘Tzunnun,’ which is applied to all the small Humming-Birds, the additional name of ‘Achshukub.’ The Spanish name is ‘El Gorrion Cachudo’—the Horned Humming-Bird.”—Ibis, vol. ii. p. 268.
Featuring all 422 illustrated species from John Gould’s A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds arranged by color.
Humming-Birds
