Phaëthornis syrmatophorus
Phaëthornis syrmatophorus
Train-bearing Hermit
About this plate
Ecuador
I am indebted to Professor Jameson of Quito for several examples of this new species of Phaëthornis, which had been procured in the neighbourhood of that city.
In all probability, the eastern portions of Peru, from the Equator to Bolivia, are the true and proper habitat of the bird. Certain it is, that I have never seen examples from any part of Columbia, which tends to strengthen this supposition. The species to which it seems to be most nearly allied is the P. Eurynome; but it differs from that and every other I have seen in several particulars, namely in the rich buffy hue which pervades the lower part of the abdomen and the under tail-coverts; in the zone of rich buff which occupies the lower part of the back and the upper tail-coverts; in the lateral tail-feathers being very short, and largely tipped with buff; in the two central tail-feathers being very long, much broader and of a looser texture; and moreover, having their apical halves pure white, which renders them very conspicuous, and has suggested the specific name of Syrmatophorus or Train-bearer.
Mr. Bridges brought from Bolivia a single specimen of a bird so closely resembling this species in general appearance, that I am inclined to think it may be a female of the present bird, the chief differences being its smaller size, and the somewhat narrower form of the apical halves of the central tail-feathers: it may, however, prove to be distinct.
Crown of the head and back of the neck dark brown, most of the feathers narrowly edged with buff; back and shoulders bronzy green, with crescentic bands of buff; rump and upper tail-coverts rich buff, forming a conspicuous mark; chin white; a buffy-white mark surmounts the eye, and extends backward down the sides of the neck; chest, abdomen, and under tail-coverts rich buff; basal half of the two central tail-feathers black on the edges, and green in the centre; their apical half white; lateral feathers greyish black, largely tipped with buff; wings purplish brown; upper mandible blackish brown; under mandible orange-red; feet brown.
The figures are of the natural size. The beautiful plant is the Rondeletia versicolor.
References
- Phaëthorms Syrmatophorus, Gould in Jard. Orn. Cont., 1851.
Twelve ways of seeing
- upright 1.51 : 1
- published 1849
- Pl. 20, Vol. I
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
夫象物必在于形似，形似须全其骨气。
—— 唐·张彦远《历代名画记》
Likeness is the threshold; bone-and-breath is the point.
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
No reliable binomial survives, so the printed title must serve. Neither name nor binomial survives: the printed title must do.
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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
Tall and narrow, the bird perched mid-branch with generous margins above and below. (about 1.51 : 1) No details are appended: a plate for looking, not for keying out. Old plates set the plant slightly off centre, with unequal margins — that small imbalance is what keeps it alive.
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Line and Colour
The first half of the nineteenth century moved from copper to steel to lithography; stipple could render the softest transition. 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 1849 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. In the same volume the kin are shelved together; set several plates side by side.
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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. 20, Vol. I, book page 20. 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. You need not parse every word: take the line, and the flower acquires a second face.
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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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What to Take Away
Appreciation is not knowledge but habit — one more look each time. The flower of that year is dust, yet its image on paper has outlived every living cousin.
