Spathura rufocaligata
Spathura rufocaligata
Red-booted Racket-tail
About this plate
La Paz in Bolivia
This new Humming-bird was procured in Bolivia by Mr. Bridges, who informed me that he found the species rather numerous at Sandillani in the Yungas of La Paz, but had no opportunity of making himself acquainted with its habits, for a knowledge of which, therefore, we must await the researches of some future traveller: there is little doubt, however, that they will prove to be very similar to those of its near allies, the Spathura Underwoodi and S. Peruana.
The male has the throat and forepart of the neck luminous metallic green; the plumage of the body bronzy green; wings brown; tarsi clothed with a thick ruff of rusty red feathers; tail brown, the outer feathers prolonged and narrow, and ending in a broad spatulate tip; bill black.
Total length, 4
The female has the upper surface and two middle tail-feathers bronzy green, the bronzy hue predominating on the head and the green on the tail-feathers; wings purplish brown; lateral tail-feathers dark blackish brown, the outer one on each side tipped with white, the remainder with a wash of bronzy green at their extremities; under surface white, spotted on the throat, the sides of the neck and flanks with light bronzy green; feathers clothing the tarsi and the under tail-coverts deep buff.
Total length, 3
The figures represent two males and two females of the natural size.
References
- Trochilus (Ocreatus) rufocaligatus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part XIV. p. 86.
- Trochilus Addæ, Bourc. Rev. Zool. 1846, p. 312.
- Mellisuga rufocaligata, Gray and Mitch., Gen. of Birds, Mellhisuga, sp. 59.
Twelve ways of seeing
- upright 1.37 : 1
- published 1852
- Pl. 165, Vol. III
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
搜尽奇峰打草稿。
—— 清·石涛《苦瓜和尚画语录》
Exhaust the strange peaks, and then make the sketch.
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 Spathura rufocaligata: the first word is the genus it belongs among, the second the epithet that sets it apart. Two words carry a whole provenance. No established Chinese name exists, so it is cited by its binomial alone.
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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 1.37 : 1) No details are appended: a plate for looking, not for keying out. Cover the margins with your thumb and the plate suffocates; uncover them and the flower breathes again.
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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.
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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 1852 on the plate is that of publication, not of flowering — the gathering came a year or two earlier. Note the season. Phenology is the most practical tool of appreciation.
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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. 165, Vol. III, book page 165. 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. Keep the line; it will surface the next time you meet the same plant.
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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. Flower language was added later; the flower knows nothing of it, and that innocence is part of its power.
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What to Take Away
If you keep one line, keep Guo Xi's: from afar its momentum, up close its texture. A flora exists to be consulted; look long enough and you forget to consult — someone in 1852 gave a whole day to a single flower.
