( 48 ) 



B. Outer rectrices blue. 



c. Blue gnlar spot, tail shorter. 



rt'. Under surface dull green, bill shorter. 



0°. Outer and inner rectrices deeji blue : C. gorgo (Colombia). 



Ir. Outer rectrices blue, inner greenish : C. gorgo margrirethae 

 (Caribbean hill-ranges, Venezuela). 

 b\ Under surface greenish brown, bill longer : C. coekstis (Ecuador). 



d. No blue gular spot, tail longer : G. caudatn (Andes of Venezuela). 



23. Lesbia victoriae (Bourc. k Muls.). 

 (See Salvin, Cat. B., xvi., p. 140.) 



At high elevations east and west of the Andes. A few were shot near Cuenca. 

 Very plentiful near Kiobamba, and at the foot of the Chimborazo. The}- are in 

 good plumage from May to December. Nests and eggs were found in April and 

 May. The nest consists of dark-coloured moss and roots, and is covered with a 

 thin roof of fern leaves and moss. It is lined inside with deep, rufous, soft, silky 

 hairs taken from a mouutain-fern (Osimenda ?). 



The two eggs arc small, measuring 14-4 x 9 millimetres. 



The female sits on the nest with the tail doubled up, so that the tij) of the tail 

 is visible close to the head looldng out of the entrance-hole. 



24. Lesbia gouldi gracilis ((ionld). 



All Bogota specimens before us have the under tail-coverts much greener than 

 any of those from Ecuador, which have them dull buft" with a metallic green spot in 

 the middk'. This character seems to be rather constant, and the birds from Bogota 

 have also, on an average, the bill slightly shorter. It is therefore desirable to keep 

 the two forms distinct, at least subspecifically, as there seem to be intermediate 

 specimens in the British Museum. 



The nest is a loose structure of dry twigs, moss, and lichen, nearly (juite 

 covered at the top. The tail of the female, wlien sitting on the eggs, is doubled 

 np beside the body. 



The nest was found at Loja in Ajiril, and contains no eggs. Tiie birds were 

 shot in April at Loja and Cuenca, at elevations of from OOUO to 12,i)0(J feet. 



2.">. Metallura tyrianthina quitensis (Gould). 



Met with east and west at diiferent altitudes, but chiefly at elevations of from 

 8000 to 12,000 feet. 



Gouhl (Iiitrod. Mon. Troch., p. 77) ami Heine (././'. ( )., IsOU, p. 210) declared 

 emphatically tliat the Ecuadorian birds were quite dirt'erent from those from Bogota, 

 Colombia, while Salvin {Cat. B., .\vi., p. 153) says they are similar. We have 

 15 specimens from Bogota and IT from Ecuador before us, and we must say that 

 we cannot find any difference in colour, but that there certainly is a difFerence 

 in size. Tiie wing of all the Ecuadorian birds is about O'l inch, or more, longer 

 than that of the Bogota birds, and the bill is about 001 in. longer. 



The type of J/, tyria.rithina {Trochilus tyiiantkinus Lodd., P. Z. S., 1832, p. fi) 

 came from Popayan. Before Popayan specimens are actually compared with 

 others, it is, in our opinion, not quite settled wliether they belong to the form 

 of iJogota or to that of Ecuador, because tlie ornis of Popayan seems partly to 



