EUGENES. 329 
this species is found in great abundance at certain seasons, feeding from the flowers of 
the tree-convolvulus (Zpomw@a murucoides), and flying on cloudy misty afternoons, the 
males fighting incessantly with one another and with every other species of Humming- 
Bird frequenting the same place. The females do not join in the same company, and 
therefore are, or appear to be, much rarer than the males. 
The southern limit of this species is Southern Nicaragua, whence we have recently 
received two specimens from Mr. Richardson, who shot them at San Rafael del Norte in 
March and April 1892. 
In Mexico, in the neighbourhood of Jalapa and Coatepec, de Oca says}® that this 
species is found in spring and summer, but is more common in autumn, feeding from 
the flowers of Centaurea benedicta. He also says that it is found in the Valley of 
Mexico, a statement confirmed by many other observers, but that he never found its 
nest. Villada tells us!” that EL. fulgens is one of the first Humming-Birds to arrive in 
spring, appearing in March when the species of Cereus are in flower, and frequenting 
other Cacti as well as Agave. Later in the year it seeks Lobelia laxiflora and Erythrina 
corallodendron. In the month of June, when these plants have finished flowering, it 
retires to the neighbouring hills where Bouvadia abounds; in August and September 
it returns to the plains when Salvia patens and S. fulgens bloom, and at the commence- 
ment of autumn it retires to the south-eastward not to return till the following spring. 
M. Boucard says? that it is very common in Mexico in June and July and equally abundant 
at La Parada, where he resided for a long time. He obtained many specimens when 
they were feeding from the flowers of Carduaceew which grew in his garden. 
The species was first discovered by Bullock in Mexico, and his specimens were 
described by Swainson in 18271. A few years afterwards Lesson redescribed and figured 
the bird as 0. rivolit?1._ Lichtenstein’s uncharacterized name Trochilus melanogaster 78 
was probably based on birds sent to the Berlin Museum by Deppe. Lesson figured and 
described a female of this species as a female of Celigena clemencie °. 
M. Boucard has very kindly lent us his type of Eugenes viridiceps which he described 
in 1878 from a single specimen found in a collection of bird-skins made near Coban in 
Vera Paz *4. 
The specimen is a very curious one, and may be, we think, an immature male. The 
upper surface resembles that of Eugenes fulgens, except that the crown is partially 
covered with glittering olive-green feathers, which in a young EL. fulgens would be rich 
violet-blue. ‘The under surface is sordid grey, darker on the flanks, which are also 
washed with golden green. The feathers of the throat are shaped like those of the 
male EL. fulgens, that is to say, they are squamose with rounded ends ; but the glittering 
colour is entirely gone, except in the case of a few on the left side, and these are 
glittering green. ‘The tail is peculiar, and differs from that of the female Eugenes 
fulgens in having wider white tips to the lateral rectrices, the bases of which are pale 
green, a male character. The bill is rather longer than the average in Z. fulgens. As the 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Aves, Vol. II., September 1892. 42 
