BIEDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA, 481 



or sulcus. Nasal operculum moderately broad and convex, unfeath- 

 ered, but mostly concealed by overhanging frontal feathers, wliich 

 extend anteriorly beyond anterior end of nostrils, forming a more or 

 less prominent point or antia on each side of the mesorhinium. 

 Tai-sus clothed ^^^th short feathers; middle and inner toes about equal 

 in length, the outer shgJitly shorter, the hallux shorter than outer 

 toe ; feet relatively very small. Wing more than three times (some- 

 times four times) as long as exposed culmen, the outermost primary 

 longest. Tail nearly to quite two-tliirds as long as wing, emarginate, 

 the rectrices broad, with broadly rounded tip. 



Coloration. — Above metalhc green or (in one species only) grayish 

 brown or oUve, the tail metallic green or blue, or (in 0. delpMnse) 

 oUve, crossed by a subterminal band of darker gi'een, blue, blackish, 

 or bronze-dusky; a conspicuous post-auricular tuft of violet, violet- 

 blue, or (in C. serrirostris) violet-red broad, rounded and imbricated 

 feathers; under parts mostly metalUc green, this broken by darker 

 centers to the strongly individualized feathers (producing an effect 

 quite pecuHar to the genus), sometimes relieved by a violet or violet- 

 blue pectoral or jugular area, the chin and suborbital region also 

 sometimes -vdolet or violet-blue; in C. delphinx the under parts brown- 

 ish (more or less spotted or mottled), the tlu'oat with metallic gi-een, 

 bluish, or bronzy feathers, the tail-coverts broadly margined with 

 light cinnamon. Sexes ahke in coloration, but females usually 

 decidedly smaller than males. 



Range. — Southern Mexico to Guiana, southern Brazil, Bolivia, and 

 Peru. (Nine species.) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF COLIBRI. 



a. General color metallic green. 

 b. A patch of violet-blue on center of chest or breast, 

 c. Larger (wing 70-84.5, tail 45-55, culmen 23-28.5); whole chin blue. (Colom- 

 bia to Venezuela, Bolivia, and Peru.) Colibri iolotus (extralimital).a 



cc. Smaller (wing 60-70, tail 35.5-45, culmen 18-22); chin wholly green or with 

 only extreme upper margin blue. (Guatemala and southern Mexico.) 



Colibri thalassinus (p. 482). 

 bb. No blue on under parts. (Costa Rica to Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador.) 



Colibri cyanotus (p. 484). 



aa. General color grayish brown or olive, the upper tail-coverts (in young other upper 



parts) margined terminally with cinnamon, rusty, or buffy. (Guatemala to 



Peru, Trinidad and Guiana.) Colibri delphinae (p. 486). 



o Rhamphodon anais (not Ornismya anais Lesson, 1830) Lesson, Hist. Nat. Troch., 

 1832, 146, pi. 55. — Petasophora anais Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1847, 8; Mon. 

 Troch., pt. iv, 1853, pi. 224; Introd. Troch., oct. ed., 1861, 124; Elliot, Classif. and 

 Synop. Troch., 1879, 50. — Petasophora iolota Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1847, 9 

 (Bolivia). — Petasophora iolata Gould, Mon. Troch., pt. iv, 1853, pi. 225; Introd. 

 Troch., oct. ed., 1861, 124; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xvi, 1892, 107 .—C[olibri] 

 iolotus Hartert, Das Tierreich, Troch., 1900, 94 (monogr.). 



This species undoubtedly requires subdivision into two or more subspecieB. 



81255°— Bull. 50—11 31 



