( 74 ) 



not considered sufficient for generic separation in Humming-Birds, wo must at once 

 unite alxint thirty or forty other genera of Trochilidae. 



lilwmph. microrlnjnchum, hitherto only on record from ("olomhia and Ecuador, 

 has been also received from Mr. Salomon Bricefio from tlie Andes, near Merida in 

 YenezTiela. 



Cludcost. rufr-ep$ was found by Baron in Southern Ecuador (Loja). The 

 Ecuadorian specimens, however, diftVr from ty[)ioal rufcepri from Bolivia, whicli 

 have the glittering gnlar stripe uniform green, in having the tip of this stripe 

 beantifnlly golden. I call this subspecies 



Chalcostigma ruficeps aureofastigatum snbsp. nov. 



It occurs also in Northern Pern. 



The supposed female of C. herrani described on p. 34fi of Tol. XVI. of the 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mus. by Mr. Salvin is a young ynale. The adult female is much 

 smaller tlian the male, the feathers of the underside are p.aler and whitisli towards 

 the base, the throat-stripe is golden green, its lower part glitterinsj golden, but the 

 feathers not elongated as in the adult 7nale. From my forthcoming account of the 

 Trochilidae in the " Tierreich," it will be seen that this is not the only case in which 

 I wa<! able to find that immature males have hitherto been considered to be adult 

 female-^ ; Imt there are probably other cases in whit:h our material did not enable me 

 to find out the truth. 



Genus PSALIDOPRYMNA. 



There is no doubt (cf. Berlepscli and Simon) tliat Le.^hia Less, is the proper 

 generic term for the Fire-tails (6'ff/i/i/<o of Salvin), and that therefore Psalidopri/mna 

 must be used for the genus called Le.sltia in the Cnfalof/i/c of Birds. 



Psalidoprymna rictoriae may be divided into two subspecies : — 



1 . P. vietoriae vietoriae, with beak slightly shorter, tail of adult 7)iale gene- 

 rally, but not always, about 1 cm. shorter, abdomen generally slightly more buft'. 

 JIah. Colombia. Frequent in Bogota collections. The length of the tail differs. It 

 is generally about l&O — 185 mm. in fully adult Ecuadorian males, and 10.5 — 170 

 mm. in such from Bogota; but in the British Museum I saw two males with the 

 tail 180 mm. long. 



2. P. vietoriae aequatoriulis Boucard (1893 : in Humminy-Bird Vol. III. p. 6), 

 with beak slightly larger, tail of adult males generally about 1 cm. longer, 

 abdomen generally slightly greener. (The other differences noticed l)y Boucard are 

 not even borne out by his own specimens.) 



Mons. Boucard has further described a Leshia holitianu, which is said to differ 

 from L. nuna in being more golden ; but the mure golden colour of the plumage of 

 his type-specimen seems to be an individual character. There is in the British 

 Museum one adult male, said to be from Bolivia (ex d'Orbigny), which has the tail 

 148 mm. in length, while skins from Sorata seem to agree with Peruvian nuna. 

 The longer tail is not mentioned by Boucard. Possibly North Bolivian birds are 

 like Peruvian ones, while South Bolivian examples differ (?). 



Mr. 0. T. Baron collected a series of a species of Fsalidopiymna in Northern 

 Peru, which differs from P. victm-iae in the following characters : The bill is 

 considerably shorter, measuring only about 12 mm., the tail much shorter, outer 



