Juliamyia typica
蓝颏青蜂鸟属
Juliamyia typica
Juilamya
About this plate
New Granada
In the rounded and almost cuneate form of the tail, this bird differs from nearly all the known species of Humming-birds; it has therefore been made the type of a genus under the title of Juliamyia.
It is one of those species which have been a puzzle to me, and I doubt not to all other Trochilidists; some of the specimens having the crown as well as the throat and neck glittering metallic green, while in others the throat and neck only are so coloured, the crown of the head being of the same dull green as the remainder of the upper plumage; in both cases the individuals appear to be fully adult, and otherwise coloured precisely alike. It is not likely that the differences indicated are due to sex, since specimens in a totally different state of plumage, and which are doubtless females, are frequently sent with them from the same locality; it may be that the examples with the glittering crown are very old males.
The Juliamya typica enjoys a wide range of habitat, extending from the environs of Bogota to Ecuador; from both extremes, as well as from the intermediate countries, I have received examples. M. Bourcier procured it at Tunja, and I am indebted to Professor Jameson for two examples from the neighbourhood of Guayaquil. Specimens were also brought to this country by the late M. De Lattre; and I observe that some of these, like those procured by other collectors, have the glittering crown, and others not; in either state they are very beautiful, and the species may be considered as one of the most attractive of the smaller Humming-birds.
M. Bourcier dedicated this species to Madame Mulsant, who inspired her husband’s “Lettres à Julie sur l’Entomologie.”
The male in one state has the crown, sides of the neck and throat glittering grass-green; all the upper surface and wing-coverts green, passing into bronzy green on the upper tail-coverts; wings purplish brown; tail steely black; abdomen rich deep blue; under tail-coverts bluish black; upper mandible and point of the lower mandible black; the base of the latter flesh-colour.
In another state the male has the head of the same colour as the remainder of the upper surface, the throat only being glittering green.
The young male has the upper surface similar to the adult male last described, but the lateral tail-feathers are tipped with grey; the under surface is greyish with spangles of glittering green on the throat, and of rich blue on the upper part of the abdomen.
The female resembles the young male in the colouring of the upper surface and of the tail; her under surface is greyish white, washed with green on the sides of the neck and flanks.
The Plate represents two males in the different states described, and a female of the size of life.
References
- Ornismyia Julie, Bourc. Rev. Zool. 1842, p. 373.
- Ornismya Juliæ, Boure. Ann. Sci. Phys. &e. de Lyon, 1842, p. 345. pl. 21.
- Hylocharis Juliæ, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 114, Hylocharis, sp. 24.
- Damophila Julia, Reich. Auf. der Col., p. 7.
- Juliamyia typica, Bonap. Rev. Zool. 1854, p. 255.
Twelve ways of seeing
- upright 1.59 : 1
- published 1861
- Pl. 337, 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.
-
First Look
真山水之川谷，远望之以取其势，近看之以取其质。
—— 宋·郭熙《林泉高致·山水训》
Mountains and valleys: from afar take their momentum, up close take their texture — the two distances from which any picture is read.
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.
-
Name and Thing
The binomial is Juliamyia typica: 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 蓝颏青蜂鸟属 is a modern rendering of the Latin, not an old garden name.
-
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. Three things fix the habit: leaf arrangement, tepal count, and how the flower is borne.
-
Composition
Tall and narrow, the bird perched mid-branch with generous margins above and below. (about 1.59 : 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.
-
Line and Colour
In the later nineteenth century chromolithography took over: colour printed rather than painted, line demoted. Craft leaves franker evidence than inscriptions.
-
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 plate records ten days of peak; the other three hundred are leaf, fruit and rest.
-
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. In the same volume the kin are shelved together; set several plates side by side.
-
The Book and the Hand
“Gould's Hummingbirds” was drawn by John Gould and published 1849-1887. This plate is Pl. 337, Vol. V, book page 337. The image is public domain; the hand-colouring is still one person's hand.
-
Poetic Resonance
夫列子御风而行，泠然善也，旬有五日而后反。
—— 《庄子·逍遥游》
Liezi rode the wind and came back after fifteen days, so light was his going.
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.
-
The Written Tradition
宁古无时，宁朴无巧，宁俭无俗。
—— 明·文震亨《长物志》
Better old than fashionable, better plain than clever, better spare than vulgar.
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.
-
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. Flower language was added later; the flower knows nothing of it, and that innocence is part of its power.
-
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.
