( 7» ) 



E. lugens as two species, the latter uo doubt being tlie female, the former the 

 7nale. 



In the Catalogue of Birds and elsewhere the female of E. aureliae has been said 

 to be " similar to the male." This is not exactly right. The female of E. aureliae 

 differs from the male in having the tibial tnft less largely developed, and only 

 tinged witli brownish cinnamon near the body, not half cinnamon as in the male. 

 The wing is also shorter, the tail more distinctly tinged with green towards the base. 

 Yonng birds resemble more the fenude ; the feathers of the underside, however, are 

 dnsky black ; the base of the mandible is flesh-colonr. This last character is fonnd 

 in most or all species of Eriocnemis when very young. 



Genus METALLURA. 



Mr. Baron has collected a fine series of Metallura smanuidinicollis in North 

 Pern, at Cajabaniba, Cajamarca, Hnamachnco, Levanto, and Celendin (cf Nov. Zool. 

 Vol. IV. No. 1). All these differ considerably from specimens of ^[. .vmimgdinicoUis 

 from the more southern parts of Pern and Bolivia (Maraynioc, f 'achnpata, Tilotilo, 

 S. Jos^, and Araca) in the following characters : — 



They are slightly ligliter green above. They are much paler below, the tips of 

 the feathers being pale greenish bronze and less large, thns showing more of the 

 huffish subterminal colour of the feathers. They are slightly larger. They require 

 a name, and I name them 



Metallura smaragdinicoUis septentrionalis subsp. nov. 



Boueard's .1/. periitiaiw {Gen. Ham. J>. p. 73) seems to belong to typical 

 itnuiragdinirollis. Some of the type-specimens have rather longer wings than other 

 smaragdinicolUs ; bnt they are not, according to their coloration, my septentrionalis. 



Boncard's M. griseocyanea (Gen. Hum. B. p. 75) is a semialbinistic variety of 

 ^^. tyriaidhina. 



It is hardly possible to believe that the imperfect skin from Santa Marta in the 

 British Museum belongs to Met. smaragdinicolUs. Adult specimens will no donbt 

 prove to belong to a new form. 



Nearly all or all nests of the various species of Metallura^ of which we have 

 received several from Ecuador (from Baron) and from Venezuela (Briceno), are 

 raised at the back so as to somewhat resemble a short slipper withont heel. 



Genus CHALCOSTIGMA. 



Elliot and Salvin nnited Chnlcostigmn with Tthamphomicron. I cannot agree 

 with them, nor with Salvin's contention that his genus Rkamphomieron (including 

 Chalcostigma) " might perhaps be separated into three or four genera" ; bnt I follow 

 Simon {FcuUle Jeunes Nat. 1898. p. 125) and Berlepsch (w litt.) in separating 

 Chalcoxtigma, with heteropogon, oUcaceum, stanlegi, vulcani, herrani, rujiceps, and 

 purpareicauda, from Rkamphomieron, with microrhynchum and dorsale. The 

 former genus differs from the latter in having a longer bill (longer than the head 

 or equal to it, while it is shorter than the head in EhampJiomicron), broader 

 rectrices, and an elongated bunch of feathers on the throat. If such characters are 



