BIEDS OF AEGENTINA, PAEAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 231 



presented by Dr. Edwyn Reed, of Valparaiso, demonstrate that this 

 species is generically separable from Sephanoides under the name 

 Thaummte of Eeichenbach, on the basis of broader, shorter bill, 

 stronger tarsi and feet, broader rectrices, and relatively longer tail. 

 These distinctions, though most apparent in males, are readily seen 

 when females are compared. The four specimens donated by Doctor 

 Eeed form a valuable accession to the collections in the United States 

 National Museum, since the Juan Fernandez hummer had been rep- 

 resented there previously by the skin of a male alone. 



SAPPHO SAPHO (Lesson) 



Ornismija sapho Lesson, Hist. Nat. Ois.-RIouch., 1829, p. 105. (" Interior of 

 Brazil.") 



Trochilus spayyatiurus of Shaw,'* the name in common use for the 

 present species, must be transferred to the bird described by Gould ^ 

 as Comet es phaon^ since Shaw's plate, though crude, shows distinctly 

 the long bill and the light line extending beneath the eye of this bird, 

 while he describes the gold crimson bar on the otherwise black tail 

 that also is characteristic of it. The locality assigned by Shaw, 

 Peru, is also the one inhabited by this species. The bill in the hum- 

 mer, that has been called sparganurus in the past, is shorter, a white 

 line, where present, extends only to the anterior margin of the eye, 

 not below it, and the tail is coppery red instead of crimson ; in addi- 

 tion, the bird is of more southern range. Cometes phaon Gould, 

 therefore, takes the name Sappho sparganura (Shaw) and Ornis- 

 mya sapho must be used as the name for the other species. The 

 locality assigned by Lesson, " interior of Brazil," is doubtless incor- 

 rect. Cory ^ recenth^ has used Leshia of Lesson ' for the species under 

 discussion. Though Lesson did not designate a type for this genus, 

 Gray* subsequently selected Ornismya kingii of Lesson,' a species 

 not now considered congeneric with Ornismya sapho^ so that Sappho 

 of Reichenbach ^" must be used for the present species. 



Near El Salto, at an elevation of between 1,500 and 1,800 meters 

 above Potrerillos, Mendoza, this beautiful!}^ marked hummer was 

 fairly common on March 19, 1921. A red-flowered epiphyte {Psit- 

 tacanthus cuneifolius) , parasitic on creosote bush, was common, and 

 Sappho came with other hummers to feed at it. The plant grew 

 in clumps from 1 to 2 meters from the gi-ound, with the massed 

 color of the flowers against the gray green of the surrounding vege- 

 tation prominent at a considerable distance. On the rock-strewn 



* Gen. Zool., toI. 8, pt. 1, 1812, p. 291. 



*Proc. Zool. See. London, 1847, p. 31. (Peru.) 

 « Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 2, no. 1, Mar., 1918, p. 281. 

 ' Ind. Gen. Syn. Troch., 1832, p. xvii. 



* List Gen. Birds, 1840, p. 14. 

 "Troch., 1832, p. 107, pi. 38. 

 ".■\.v. Syst. Nat., 1850, pi. 40. 



