Metallura tyrianthina
紫辉尾蜂鸟
Metallura tyrianthina
Tyrian-Tail
About this plate
New Granada
The Metallura tyrianthina was first described by the late Mr. George Loddiges in the “ Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Correspondence of the Zoological Society of London” for the year 1832; it afterwards received the name of Allardi from M. Bourcier in 1839, and that of Paulinæ, in honour of Mademoiselle Pauline Barthod, from M. Boissonneau, in 1840.
It is without exception one of the commonest species of the genus, and enjoys an extremely wide range of habitat, extending over at least 15 degrees of latitude, being abundant all along the Andean ranges, from the Gulf of Darien to Ecuador. It appears to be especially numerous in the neighbourhood of Santa Fé de Bogota, a large number of examples being contained in every collection sent from that country. It has been figured by Sir William Jardine in his “Contributions to Ornithology” for 1850, where he has also given some interesting notes furnished to him by Professor Jameson of Quito, and M. Bourcier, which notes I take the liberty of extracting:—
Professor Jameson gives the western declivity of Pichincha as the habitat of this species, and states that ‘it feeds generally on the flowers of a blue lupine, and that its habits resembled more those of an insect than one of the feathered tribe.’
This species is scattered over all the mountains of New Grenada and Ecuador; it is met with on all the woody mountains, and also in the valleys (feeding from the flowers of all the different kinds of plants and orchids) visited by other species of the Trochlidæ. It braves the cold, and is one of the Humming-birds which is found on the flowers of the last shrubs which are met with in the high regions of the Paramos (cold mountains covered with grass, which separate the surrounding rocks of sand covered with snow from the other spots clothed with wood).
This Humming-bird has a rapid flight; it lives solitary, and makes its nest in ravines, among groups of plants, shaded from the sun and rain; like the other species, it lays two white eggs.
The female is red under the belly, without any fine colour on the throat. The young are covered with a blackish plumage. I never heard this species utter a cry.
The sexes differ considerably in colour, the female being much less gaily attired than her mate; she is also somewhat smaller in size.
The male has the upper and under surface and wing-coverts dark dull bronzy green; a small spot of white behind the eye; down the throat a lengthened mark of luminous green, bounded on each side by blackish brown; wings purplish brown; tail rich purplish bronze; bill black.
The female has the plumage of the upper surface golden-bronze; tail bronzy purple, lighter than that of the male, the lateral feathers tipped with greyish white; no trace of the green gorget, the throat and the whole of the under surface being mottled with light grey, reddish, and here and there reflexions of green; behind the eye.a spot of white.
The figures are of the natural size. The plant is the Ceanothus Lobbianus.
References
- Trochilus tyrianthinus, Lodd. in Proc. of Comm. of Sei. and Corr. of Zool. Soc., pt. 11. p. 6.
- Ornismya Allardi, Boure. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 294.—Ib. Ann. Sci. Phys. &e. de Lyon, 1840, p. 226. pls. 3, 4.
- Ornismya Paulinæ, Boiss. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 354.—Ib. Mag. de Zool. 1840, pl. I3.
- Trochilus Allardi, Jard. Cont. to Orn. 1850, pp. 81–9, 151. pl. 55.
- Mellisuga tyrianthinus, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 112, Mellisuga, sp. 36.
- Metallura tyrianthina, Reich. Auf. der Col., p. 8.
- Metallura tyrianthinus, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 75, Metallura, sp. 4.—Ib. Rev. Zool. 1854, p. 253.
Ten ways of seeing
- upright 1.44 : 1
- published 1852
- Pl. 195, Vol. III
Not a catalogue entry but a way of looking: how to stand, what to notice, how the line was cut — then, halfway, a line of Chinese poetry: how the ancients saw this same flower. After it, the flower's language, its season and homeland, its book; and at the end one line of classical prose — and a pair of eyes to take away.
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First Look
论画以形似，见与儿童邻。
—— 宋·苏轼《书鄢陵王主簿所画折枝》
To judge painting by likeness alone is the view of a child.
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 Metallura tyrianthina: 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 紫辉尾蜂鸟 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 1.44 : 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. Decide first whether it was printed or painted; only then discuss whether it is beautiful. If you mean to copy it: block in the broad shapes and colours first, detail last; lithographic softness comes from thin washes — two or three pale layers will get you close.
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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.
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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. In a flora it is a species first and a symbol second; the order is worth keeping.
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Season and Place
In tropical America they are present all year, their season set by flowers. Americas only, from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, richest in the Andes. China has no hummingbirds and no classical record of them. The year 1852 on the plate is that of publication, not of flowering — the gathering came a year or two earlier. Read the locality and the flowering season both with a discount: one is hearsay, the other a ten-day peak.
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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. 195, Vol. III, book page 195. The image is public domain; the hand-colouring is still one person's hand.
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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.
What to Take Away
Appreciation is not knowledge but habit — one more look each time. Two centuries on, the plant may still flower in some garden; the one on this sheet stopped in the season of 1852.
