338 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Threnetcs nickeri Reichenbach, Aufz. der Colibr., 1854, 15; Troch. Enum., 1855, 

 12.— Bonaparte, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., 1854, 249; Ibis, 1873, 428 (Guate- 

 mala). — Salvin and Elliot, Ibis, 1873, 278, part (Costa Rica; Panama; 

 synon.; crit.). — Mulsant and Verreaux, Hist. Nat. Ois.-Mouch., i, livr.l, 

 1873, 47.— Mulsant, Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyon, xxii, 1875, 200.— Salvin, Cat. 

 Birds Brit. Mus., xvi, 1892, 265 (Guatemala; Angostura, Costa Rica; Mina 

 de Chorcha, Paraiso, and Lion Hill, Panama).— Salvin and Godman, Biol. 

 Centr.-Am., Aves, ii, 1892, 316.— Boucard, The Hum. Bird, ii, 1892, 84 

 (Veragua); Gen. Hum. Birds, 1895, 371, part (Veragua). — Richmond, Proc. 

 U. S. Nat. Mus., xvi, 1893, 516 (Rio Escondido, Nicaragua).— Bangs, Auk, 

 xxiv, 1907, 295 (Pozo del Rio Grande, Costa Rica). — Carriker, Ann. Car- 

 negie Mus., vi, 1910, 518 (Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica; habits; descr. 

 nest and eggs) . 



[Threnetes] nickeri Sclater and Salvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, 79. — Sharpe, 

 Hand-list, ii, 1900, 98 (Panama; Costa Rica; Guatemala). 



T[hrenctes] ruckeri Hartert, Das Tierreich, Troch., 1900, 14 (monogr.). 



(?) Threnetes ruckeri Boucard, The Hum. Bird, v, 1895, 7 (Rio Dagua, n. w. 

 Colombia). 



Genus AITHURUS Cabanis and Heine. 



Polythmm (not Polytmus Brisson) Lesson, Tabl. Esp. Ois.-Mouch., 1829, p. 

 xviii. (Type, Trochilus polytmus Linnaeus.) 



Polytmus (not of Brisson) Reichenbach, Av. Syst. Nat., 1849, pi. 39. (Type, 

 Trochilus polytmus Linnaeus.) 



Aithurusa Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., iii, March, 1860, 50. (Type, Trochi- 

 lus polytmus Linnaeus.) 



Aethurus (emendation) Simon, Cat. Troch., 1897, 24. 



Medium-sized TrochilidaB (length, not including elongated rectrices, 

 about 100 mm.) with outermost (tenth) primary shorter than the 

 next,'' nasal operculi nude, and tail about two-thirds as long as wdng, 

 double-rounded in female but in male forked and with the next to 

 outermost pair of rectrices excessively elongated; adult male with 

 a crest on each side of occiput, top and sides of head (including 

 crests) together with tail black, back, etc., and under parts metallic 

 green; the female dull white below, and lateral rectrices broadly 

 tipped with whitish. 



Bill a little longer than head, broad and depressed basally, faintly 

 decurved; culmen rounded anteriorly, posteriorly contracted into a 

 ridge, especially on mesorhinal portion (ridged only at extreme base 

 in females); tomia smooth throughout; mandible with a broad longi- 

 tudinal groove above middle portion. Nasal operculum rather nar- 

 row, moderately tumid, nude except for upper-posterior portion, the 

 fi-ontal feathering extending to about its middle portion with a nar- 

 rowly convex or nearly truncate anterior outline. Tarsus very 

 stout, feathered on upper-anterior portion; lateral toe about equal 



« "Von dsl^oupog (stets kampflustig)." (Cabanis and Heine.) 



h Aithurus is the only genus in the entire family in which the tenth primary is 

 shorter than the ninth, except Goldmama (adult male, see p. 452.) 



