THE RUFOUS FLAME-BEARER. 171 



A CURIOUSLY formed bird, remarkable for its long slender crest and the elongated feathers 

 of its tail, is the POPELAIBE'S THOBNTAIL (Gouldia popelarii). This beautiful little creature 

 inhabits Peru and Columbia, and is found in the most elevated regions of that locality. It is 

 a very quick flyer, but there is little known of its habits. 



In the adult male, the crown of the head, the shorter feathers of the crest, together with 

 the face and throat, are light golden-green, and the long slender feathers are black. The wings 

 are purple-brown. The back is gold-green, with the exception of a bold bar of pure white, 

 which crosses the back and forms a patch on each flank. The middle of the abdomen is black, 

 the flanks are brown, and the under tail-coverts are grayish-white. The upper surface of the 

 tail is blue, the shafts of the middle feathers are white, and the remaining feathers are white 

 at their bases and brown for the rest of their length. The under surface of the tail is a bright 

 steel-blue, and the shafts are white throughout their length. 



The female possesses no crest and no elongated tail-feathers, and bears a very curious 

 resemblance to the well-known insect termed the Humming-bird Moth. 



ANOTHER curious example of the same genus may be found in CONVERS' THORNTAIL, 

 a native of Santa Fe de Bogota. 



This species is very beautiful both in shape and coloring, and, as in the case of the 

 preceding bird, the two sexes differ greatly in appearance. In the male of this bird the general 

 color is green, a white bar running across the lower end of the back, and the tail-feathers being 

 very long, narrow, and pointed. Their color is shining black, the shafts being white. In the 

 female the general color of the plumage resembles that of the male, except that the colors are 

 not so brilliant, and the throat is grayish- white, covered with brown-green spots. The tail is 

 very short, and is composed of a series of rounded feathers of a dusky hue, and white at the 

 tip. Both the species are swift flyers, and are said to resemble the swallow when on the wing. 



A VERY small Humming-bird, remarkable for its curious spiky tail and rich feathery 

 gorget, is the LITTLE FLAME-BEARER (Seldsphorus scintilla), one of several species which 

 possess the fiery tuft of feathers from which they derive their name of Flame-bearers. 



This species inhabits the inner side of the extinct volcano Chiriqui, in Veragua, at an 

 elevation of nine thousand feet above the level of the sea. It is a tiny bird, measuring only 

 two and a half inches in length, and as it darts about the singular habitation in which it lives, 

 its fiery gorget gleams with such a flaming crimson, that, as Mr. Gould happily remarks, it 

 seems to have caught the last spark from the volcano before it was extinguished. 



In the male, the upper surface is of a bronze-green. The gorget is of a fiery red, and as 

 the feathers on each side are longer than those in the centre, it necessarily projects from the 

 neck. Below the gorget is a band of white marked with buff, and the wings are purple-brown. 

 The central feathers of the tail are brownish-black edged with red, and the remaining feathers 

 are brownish -black on their outer webs, and reddish-rust on the inner webs. The under sur- 

 face of the tail is a rusty -red. The female is duller in her coloring, and the gorget is shorter 

 and of a whitish-gray spotted with brown. The flanks are buff, and the tail-feathers are not so 

 pointed as in the male. 



THERE are several species of Flame-bearers, among which may be mentioned the RUFOUS 

 FLAME-BEARER (Seldsphorus rufus), a bird which was originally discovered by Captain Cook. 

 It is an inhabitant of Mexico, and is also found on the Pacific side of Northern America in the 

 summer time, returning to Mexico in the winter. This species is well described by Mr. Nuttal, 

 whose account is quoted by Audubon : 



" We began to meet with this species near the Blue Mountains of the Columbia River in 

 the autumn, as we proceeded to the coast. These were all young birds, and were not very 

 easily distinguished from those of the common species of the same age. 



"We now for the first time (April 16) saw the males in numbers, darting, buzzing, and 

 squeaking in the usual manner of their tribe ; but when engaged in collecting its accustomed 

 sweets in all the energy of life, it seemed like a breathing gem, a magic carbuncle of glowing 



