BTEDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 315 



Bill very long (nearly twice to nearly three times as long as head), 

 more or less decidedly decurved, broatler than deep at base, the 

 culmen rounded except for mesorhinal portion, where compressed 

 into a narrow ridge; mandible with a broad and distinct lateral 

 groove, the maxilla sometimes faintly grooved; tomia smooth. 

 Nostril narrow, slit-like, overhung by a broad, tumid, mostly un- 

 feathered operculum. Tarsus feathered (more or less completely), 

 longer than anterior toes (without claw), these about ecpuxl in length, 

 the hallux shorter and weaker; middle toe united to outer toe 

 except for its terminal phalanx. Wing decidedly longer than bill, 

 the outermost {)i'imary longest. Tail about as long as wing (some- 

 times decidedly longer), excessively graduated, tlie middle pair of 

 rectriccs at least twice as long as lateral j)air, sometimes several 

 times as long, often attenuated terminally. 



Coloration. — Above usually olivaceous, more or less glossed with 

 metaUic green or bronze, the ui)per tail-coverts rufescent or tipped 

 with tawny, bulVy, or whitish; rectrices dusky, tipj^ed or terminally 

 margined with whitish, bufly, or rusty, the elongated middle pair 

 whitish, or at least j)aler, terminally; under parts buffy grayish, 

 ochraceous, or tawny, the throat sometimes with a broad median 

 area of striped grayish or ])lain buify whitish. Sexes alike. (One 

 or two species have the sexes decidedly different in coloration, the 

 adult male being glossy metallic green above, more bluish on upper 

 tail-coverts, the under parts glossed laterally with the same.) 



Range. — Southern Mexico to Cayenne, southeastern Brazil, Bolivia, 

 and Ecuador. (About fifty species and subspecies.) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OP PHCETHORNIS. 



a. Larger (wing more than 50 mm.). {Phaihorms.) 



b. Under parts mostly slate-gray or metallic bluish green; upper parts bright bluish 

 green passing into green, bluish green, or blue on upper tail-coverts. (Fhoe- 

 thornis guyi.) 

 c. Rump and upper tail-coverts decidedly greenish (green or bluish green); adult 

 males with under i^arts mostly gray (more or less dark). 

 d. Rump and upper tail-coverts green, the back bronze-green or greenish 

 bronze. (Venezuela and Trinidad.) 



PhcEthornis guyi guyi (extralimital)." 



a Trochilus guy Lesson, Hist. Nat. Troch., 1829, 119, pi. AA.—[Phaethomis\ guy 

 Bonaparte, Consp. Av., i, 1850, 67. — Phxthomis guyi Gould, Mon. Troch., i, 1852, 

 pi. 26; Elliot, Classif. and Synop. Troch., 1879, 13; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 

 xvi, 1892, 2Q?,.—P[hnethornls] guy {typicus) Hartert, Das Tierreich, Troch., 1900, 

 19 (mon.). — T[oxoieuches\ guyi Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., iii, 1860, 11, part. — 

 Phaetomis guy L^otaud, Ois. Trinidad, 1866, 129. — Guyomis typus Bonaparte, Rev. 

 et Mag. do Zool., 1854, 249. 



