3956 TROCHILIDA. 
In Mexico it seems to be essentially a bird of the highlands, being common in the 
Valley of Mexico. According to de Oca ®, it feeds from the flowers of Centaurea mexi- 
cana during the months of May and June. It then, according to that observer, ascends 
the mountains to the southward, remaining there two mcnths, during which time it 
breeds. M. Boucard says !! it is very common in the environs of Mexico from June to 
August, and passes on to the State of Oaxaca from September to November. Its 
presence in the State of Vera Cruz is probably confined to the mountains at the edge 
of the plateau ; and though specimens are recorded from Jalapa and Mirador, there can 
be little doubt that they came from the lofty mountains in the neighbourhood of those 
places. 
In Guatemala we believe Selasphorus platycercus to be restricted to the Altos 
of San Marcos and Quezaltenango, and thence southwards to the edges of the plain of 
Chimaltenango which lies at an elevation of 6000 feet above the sea. On one occasion, 
in February, many of these birds were noticed in the mountains above the town of 
Totonicapam as high as 10,000 feet above sea-level. 
The peculiar formation of the outermost primary in the male of this bird is charac- 
teristic of the species. The inner web is much reduced in width so that the feather 
has a filiform point. It is this structure that no doubt produces the shrill sound when 
the bird is in flight. This was very noticeable in birds that frequented the gardens of 
the town of Quezaltenango, especially when alarmed they flew rapidly away. 
6. Selasphorus ardens. (Tab. LVI. fig. 1.) 
Selasphorus ardens, Salv. P. Z. 8. 1870, p. 2091; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 398°; Sharpe, in 
Gould’s Mon. Troch., Suppl. t. 31 (Jan. 1888)*; Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. vii. p. 14°. 
S. platycerco similis, sed minor, supra saturatior, loris et tectricibus auricularibus rufis his nigro intermixtis ; 
caude rectricibus mediis purpureo nigris ad basin cinnamomeo limbatis, rectricibus lateralibus purpureo- 
nigris, in pogonio interno ad basin cinnamomeis et macula subterminali ejusdem coloris notatis : rostro 
nigro. Long. tota circa 2°8, ale 1°55, caude 1°15, rostri a rictu 0°65. 
Q juv. gula maculis fuscis aut rosaceo-rubris notata; caude rectricibus lateralibus ad basin cinnamomeis 
medialiter viridibus, apicibus pallide cervinis fascia subterminali obscura, rectricibus mediis nitenti- 
viridibus ad basin cinnamomeis, apicibus obscuris. (Descr. exempl. typ. ex Castillo, Panama. Mus. 
nostr. ) 
Hab. Costa Rica (Van Patten +), Volcan de Poas (Alfaro, in U. S. Nat. Mus.), Las Cruces 
de Candelaria (Zeledon, in U.S. Nat. Mus.) ; Panama, Calovevora, Castillo (Arcé +). 
Selasphorus ardens was discovered by our collector Arcé, who sent us two specimens 
—one from Castillo, the other, a young male, from Calovevora in the State of Panama!. 
Other specimens have been since obtained in Costa Rica by several collectors, and 
identified as belonging to the species by Mr. Ridgway 4. 
Like S. placycercus, S. ardens belongs to the section of the genus in which the 
lateral gular feathers are not elongated. It differs from that bird in having the outer- 
most primary normal, and from S. fammula in the colour of the central rectrices. 
