Campylopterus rufus
棕刀翅蜂鸟
Campylopterus rufus
Fawn-breasted Sabre-wing
About this plate
Guatemala
The first notice of this species of Campylopterus occurs in the “Revue Zoologique” for 1840, where it was described by M. Lesson, under the above appellation, from specimens contributed by MM. Longuemare and Parzudaki; neither of those gentlemen, however, have given any account of its habits, nor do they even mention the locality the bird frequents.
The fine examples of both sexes which grace my own collection were sent to me by Don Constancia, direct from Guatemala: we may infer, therefore, that that part of the continent is its true habitat.
In colour the two sexes are as similar as they can be; but the more rounded form of the wing and the great dilatation of its first three primaries at once distinguish the male.
The young males of the first, and probably of the second year, assimilate so closely to the opposite sex in the form of their wings, that they cannot be recognized with certainty.
As the insect food of Humming-Birds is sought for among the most varied plants, and not a flower of the forest is left unvisited, I have figured this species on one of the Guatemala Orchids, which is far too conspicuous to escape its notice, the Cyenoches barbatum.
Head and all the upper surface bronzy green; wings purple-brown; two centre tail-feathers bronzy green, the bronzy hue predominating towards the tip; the next on each side rufous at the base, then bronzy green, the bronzy hue predominating and deepening into brownish black near the extremity, where it is slightly tipped with buff; the next on each side rufous at the base, then bronze, to which succeeds a broad band of dull black, and finally it is tipped with buff; the two lateral feathers reddish buff, the outer one crossed on the inner web, and the second on both webs near the tip with an irregular bar of bluish black; all the under surface buff or fawn-colour; bill black, with the exception of the base of the lower mandible, which as well as the feet is fleshy brown.
The Plate represents a male and a female of the size of life.
References
- Campylopterus rufus, Less. in Rey. Zool. 1840, p. 73.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 71, Campylopterus, sp. 4.
- Polytmus rufus, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. 1. p. 107, Polytmus, sp. 5.
Twelve ways of seeing
- slightly upright 1.14 : 1
- published 1850
- Pl. 50, Vol. II
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.
Slightly taller than wide; the eye lands on the bird's head, a little above centre. 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 Campylopterus rufus: 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 棕刀翅蜂鸟 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. A single plant, laid out with nothing hidden.
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Composition
Slightly taller than wide, the bird set a little above centre, the eye landing at head and bill. (about 1.14 : 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. Craft leaves franker evidence than inscriptions.
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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 1850 on the plate is that of publication, not of flowering — the gathering came a year or two earlier. The plate records ten days of peak; the other three hundred are leaf, fruit and rest.
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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 localities on the plate are those of a century ago; plants travel and places change their names.
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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. 50, Vol. II, book page 50. 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. The difference is not of quality but of question: Europe asks what it is, China asks whom it resembles.
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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 1850.
