Lophornis adorabilis
白冠蜂鸟
Lophornis adorabilis
Salvin’s Coquette
About this plate
Mr. Savin must have been pleased when the male of this Humming-bird came under his notice, and when he saw how different it was from all its immediate allies.
The extreme beauty of the little fairy demanded some pretty euphonious name; and he applied to it that of adorabilis, one which, I doubt not, will last to the end of time. The well-read Trochilidist will not require to be told that there are now ten species of this ornamental group, nine of which have been figured in vol. iii. of the ‘Monograph,’ published twenty years ago.
The tenth, which I now figure, will, I trust, with many others equally rare, add materially to the usefulness and interest of this ‘Supplement.’
In my former work I placed all the species enumerated below in the single genus Lophornis; but since that date they have been separated into no less than five genera, none of which was proposed by myself, though I think that they are very fairly recognizable:—
- Lophornis ornatus. Trinidad.
- Lophornis gouldiæ. North Brazil.
- Lophornis magnificus. South Brazil.
- Telamon regulus. Bolivia.
- Telamon delattrii. Colombia.
- Telamon reginæ. Colombia.
- Dialia adorabilis. Veragua.
- Paphosia helenæ. Guatemala.
- Bellatrix chalybeus. Bolivia.
- Bellatrix verreauxi. Peru, Columbia.
The following is Mr. Osbert Salvin’s account of this novelty:—
This beautiful species is singularly distinct from any of its congeners, but perhaps belongs rather to the L. magnifica group than to that containing L. helenæ. In the whole genus, however, no other member has the erectile feathers on the forehead, the thread-like white plumes of the crest, or the long pointed feathers of the throat, all of which render this bird most distinct when compared with its allies.
The first specimen obtained by Arcé was a female, which, though evidently belonging to a distinct species, I hesitated to describe. The specimen was shot at Bugaba. ‘The last collection includes the male, which Arcé tells me his brother David obtained high up on the volcano of Chiriqui. That so fine a bird should have remained so long undiscovered seems singular; but the fact, I think, shows that the range of the species is extremely limited.
No less than two other species of Lophornis are found in this portion of Central America, viz.:—L. helenæ, the Mexican and Guatemalan bird, which is also to be met with in Costa Rica; and the southern L. delattrii, which seems to be abundant about Calobre and on the Isthmus of Panama.
Mr. Elliot states that the male has the forehead ruby-red; crown pure white, narrowing to a point on the occiput, from each side of which springs a few narrow, lengthened, dark green feathers; sides of the head, bordering the white, dark brown; back and wing-coverts bronzy green; rump dark purple, crossed by a narrow white band; throat metallic dark green; upper part of the breast white; flanks bronzy green; abdomen and under tail-coverts dark rufous; tail deep rufous, with the tips of the median feathers and edges of the others greenish brown; wings purple.
Female. Head and ears black; throat white, sparingly spotted with golden green; tail banded with a broad bar near the extremity; median rectrices tinged in the middle with a greenish tint.
Total length 2
References
- Lophorms adorabilis, Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1870, p. 207.—Elhiot, Syn. p. 135.
- Matha adorabilis, Muls. Hist. Nat. Oiseaux-Mouches, vol. iii. p: 208, pl., 1876.
Twelve ways of seeing
- upright 1.60 : 1
- published 1887
- Pl. 395, Suppl. Vol.
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
江馆清秋，晨起看竹，烟光日影露气，皆浮动于疏枝密叶之间。
—— 清·郑板桥《题画竹》
On an autumn morning at the river lodge I looked at the bamboo: mist, sunlight, dew, all drifting among the sparse and dense leaves.
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 Lophornis adorabilis: 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 白冠蜂鸟 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. A single plant, laid out with nothing hidden.
-
Composition
Tall and narrow, the bird perched mid-branch with generous margins above and below. (about 1.60 : 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. There is evidence on the back too: the plate mark pressed into the paper, the slight relief of the pigment, lines worn shallow in a later printing.
-
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 1887 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.
-
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.
-
The Book and the Hand
“Gould's Hummingbirds” was drawn by John Gould and published 1849-1887. This plate is Pl. 395, Suppl. Vol., book page 395. 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
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.
-
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. A flora exists to be consulted; look long enough and you forget to consult — someone in 1887 gave a whole day to a single flower.
