铜色蜂鸟属

The high lands of New Granada. Specimens are frequently sent from Bogota.

In my account of Glaucis hirsuta I pointed out the differences which exist among specimens of this form from the Andes of Bogota and those from Trinidad and Brazil, and remarked that the former, which has the throat and abdomen suffused with green, and might therefore be regarded as distinct, had not yet received a specific appellation.

This has since been bestowed upon it by Mr. G. N. Lawrence, of New York, who says, “This species is a near ally of G. hirsuta, and it is with some hesitation I have ventured to characterize it as distinct. Mr. Gould, in his ‘Monograph of the Trochilidæ,’ under G. hirsuta, speaks of a bird from Bogota ‘which has the throat and abdomen much suffused with green,’ which he thinks nearly allied to hirsuta, and possibly different; but he does not incline to give it a specific appellation until further light is obtained. The example I have described may be the same as the Bogota bird, but differs so much in the sombre colouring of its under plumage from the more uniform rufous which prevails in those parts in all the specimens I have seen from Cayenne, Trinidad, &c., and in the much darker green of its upper plumage, that I cannot but regard them as different species.” Specimens from the banks of the Napo, to which Mr. Lawrence’s remark applies, are somewhat darker-coloured than those from Bogota; still I have no doubt of their being referable to the same bird. The following is Mr. Lawrence’s description of this species:—

“Top of the head dark brown; back and wing-coverts shining grass-green; upper tail-coverts fringed with grey; chin dark brownish grey; centre of the throat dull brownish rufous; sides of the neck and breast dull dark green intermixed with rufous; abdomen and sides pale rufous; under tail-coverts white, with their centres very pale fawn-colour, two centre tail-feathers dark green tipped with white, inside which is a narrow black band; the outer tail-feathers are chestnut-red for two-thirds of their length from the base, the remainder purplish black with white tips; wings purplish brown; upper mandible black; lower mandible yellow with a black tip; irides black; feet pale yellow.”

The figures in the accompanying plate, which are of the size of life, were taken from Bogotan specimens. The plant is the Lopemia malacophylla.

References

• Glaucis affinis, Lawr. in Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. of New York, vol. vi. p. 261.