Humming-Birds

Genus Thaumatias Bonap.

The genus Thaumatias, as proposed by Bonaparte and adopted by me, comprises many species respecting which much confusion exists, especially with regard to the names applied to them by the older authors; some confusion also occurs with respect to the species I have called Thaumatias Linnæi, which I fear cannot be satisfactorily unravelled. If it should be decided that it is not the bird Bonaparte intended, I trust it will be allowed to stand as the “Thaumatias Linnæi, Gould, nec Bonap.” The other synonyms may or may not be applicable to it, but they are given on the authority of M. Bourcier of Paris. This is another of those instances which unfortunately occur too frequently for the advantage of science; I mean the impossibility of determining the species intended in the curt descriptions left us by Gmelin and others of Tobaci or Tobagensis, Ourissia, cum multis aliis.

The species of this form are natives of Brazil, the banks of the Rivers Amazon and Napo, the Guianas, the island of Trinidad, Venezuela, New Granada, and Central America. The sexes of each species are alike in colour. If any difference be observable, it is in the outer tail-feathers of the female being faintly tipped with olive-grey.


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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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