Amazilia beryllina
绿蜂鸟
Amazilia beryllina
Berylline Amazili
About this plate
Southern Mexico. M. Botta found it at Orizaba, and M. Sallé at Cordova.
This bird is generally known to Trochilidists by the specific name of Arsenoë; but the Berlin ornithologists tell us that it had been previously named beryllinus by the late Dr. Lichtenstein in his priced list of birds issued in 1830; and I have adopted the name proposed by my very old friend who so long filled the post of Director of the Zoological Museum of Berlin: at the same time I question the justice of the procedure, as it can scarcely be expected that names proposed in a catalogue of duplicate birds, even if accompanied by brief specific descriptions, are to be received and admitted by the scientific naturalist; for myself, I have never seen the pamphlet alluded to.
The native country of the Amazilia beryllina is Southern Mexico, where it appears to be numerous; it does not, however, seem to enjoy a very wide range, since I do not recollect ever seeing examples of it in any collection from Guatemala; if it be found there, it is but rarely, and only in the northern parts of the country, or those portions bordering on Mexico. Several specimens were collected by M. Botteri in the neighbourhood of Orizaba, and M. Sallé procured others at Cordova.
A considerable difference occurs in the extent of the green colouring of the under surface in different individuals; in some this colour spreads over the whole of the abdomen, while in others it merely covers the chest and the upper part of the flanks, the breast being of a deep brownish fawn-colour. This variation in the extent of the green colouring I at one time attributed to a difference of sex, the male being generally more clothed with green than the female, but I now think it is merely a local variation.
Head, sides and back of the neck, upper part of the back, and the anterior portion of the wing-coverts dark green, gradually passing into the rich deep golden and purplish bronze of the posterior portion of the wing-coverts, lower part of the back and upper tail-coverts; spurious wing very dark brown; primaries and secondaries dark chestnut-red at the base, and purplish brown for the remainder of their length; tail rich deep purplish bronze, the purple hue prevailing on the four central feathers; chin, throat, chest, and abdomen shining grass-green; under surface of the wing, vent, and under tail-coverts deep chestnut-red, the feathers of the latter part narrowly fringed with white; upper mandible black; under mandible fleshy with a black tip.
The figures are of the size of life. The plant is the Maxillarta Warreana.
References
- Trochilus beryllinus, Licht. Preis-Verz. Mexican. Thier. ges. v. Deppe und Schiede (Sept. 1830), no. 26.
- Ornismya Arsinoë, Less. Supp. Hist. Nat. des Ois. Mou., pp. 154, 156. pls. 28, 29.—Ib. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1838, p. 314, 1839, p. 18.
- Cynanthus Arsinoë, Jard. Nat. Lib. Humm.-Birds, vol. ui. p. 149. pl. 33.
- Polytmus Arsinoë, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 109, Polytmus, sp. 9.
- Amazilius arsinoë, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 77, Amazilius, sp. 2.—Ib. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 254.
- Amazilia Arsinoë, Reich. Auf. der Col., p. 10.—Ib. Troch. Enum., p. 8. t. deelxxiv. figs. 4794–97?
- Pyrrhophaena beryllina, Cab. Mus. Hein., Theil iii. p. 36.
Twelve ways of seeing
- upright 1.57 : 1
- published 1861
- Pl. 312, Vol. V
Not a catalogue entry but a way of looking: how to stand, what to notice, how the line was cut, when it flowers, where it came from, who made it — and then the poems and the classics that taught China to see the same flower. Read the twelve in order and the plate opens.
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First Look
竖划三寸，当千仞之高；横墨数尺，体百里之迥。
—— 南朝宋·宗炳《画山水序》
A vertical stroke of three inches stands for a cliff of a thousand fathoms; a few feet of ink holds a hundred li.
The sheet is vertical: the eye climbs and settles on the bird. Take the posture before the plumage. Then step in close: watch where colour meets line, and whether the line ever breaks. Third, find the darkest small patch: the whole tonal order is measured from there.
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Name and Thing
The binomial is Amazilia beryllina: the first word is the genus it belongs among, the second the epithet that sets it apart. Two words carry a whole provenance. The Chinese name 绿蜂鸟 is a modern rendering of the Latin, not an old garden name.
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Form and Colour
The smallest of birds: a needle-fine bill, a forked tubular tongue, wings beating so fast the bird hovers and even flies backwards. Its colour is not pigment but structure — light bent by feather barbules, changing with the angle.No colour group is recorded. Read the outline, then the colour layers, then the brush.
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Composition
Tall and narrow, the bird perched mid-branch with generous margins above and below. (about 1.57 : 1) No details are appended: a plate for looking, not for keying out. Blank paper is not unfinished work: it is where the eye rests.
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Line and Colour
In the later nineteenth century chromolithography took over: colour printed rather than painted, line demoted. Take a loupe to three places: petal edge, leaf vein, caption. An unbroken line means engraving; colour crossing the outline means a hand.
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Season
In tropical America they are present all year, their season set by flowers; temperate hummingbirds follow the bloom north and back, thousands of kilometres a year. The year 1861 on the plate is that of publication, not of flowering — the gathering came a year or two earlier. The best time to read such a plate is its flowering season: three minutes under the tree explains what no text can.
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Provenance
Americas only, from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, richest in the Andes. China has no hummingbirds and no classical record of them; the name arrives with late-Qing travel writing. The volume was made in 1849-1887, when most of this knowledge came from living plants under glass.
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The Book and the Hand
“Gould's Hummingbirds” was drawn by John Gould and published 1849-1887. This plate is Pl. 312, Vol. V, book page 312. The image is public domain; the hand-colouring is still one person's hand.
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Poetic Resonance
穿花蛱蝶深深见，点水蜻蜓款款飞。
—— 唐·杜甫《曲江二首》
Butterflies thread the flowers, seen deep within; dragonflies touch the water and fly on, slow and deliberate.
The poem gives the mood first and the picture supplies the form; set the line beside the plate and the bird itself becomes its resting point.
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The Written Tradition
竖划三寸，当千仞之高；横墨数尺，体百里之迥。
—— 南朝宋·宗炳《画山水序》
A vertical stroke of three inches stands for a cliff of a thousand fathoms; a few feet of ink holds a hundred li. Smallness of scale was never the obstacle.
Gould's Hummingbirds (1849–1887) used hand-coloured lithography over gold leaf so the iridescence survived on paper — a monument to Victorian printing and collecting alike. Keep the line; it will surface the next time you meet the same plant.
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Symbolism
For the Aztecs the hummingbird was warrior and sun; for Victorian Europe it was the ultimate ornament, millions killed for breast jewellery. China has no tradition here — and that blank is itself a history of exchange. Meanings change their tune: the same flower can say opposite things within a century.
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What to Take Away
Next time you watch a bird: posture first, then where the plumage is deepest, and only then the field guide. Two centuries on, the plant may still flower in some garden; the one on this sheet stopped in the season of 1861.
