oo. a:^iazu.ia. li2o 



2G. Amazilia erythronota. 



OrnisniTa ervtbronotos, Less. Hist. Nat. Ois.-Mouches, pp. xxxii, 



]81, pi. Cl"; id. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 19. 

 Trochilus ervtbrouotus, Less. Ind. Gen. Troch. p. xxviii. 

 Polytmus erytbronotiis, Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 108; id. Iland-l. B. i. 



p. 132 ; Leot. Ois. Trin. p. 137. 

 Saucerottia erytbronota, Bp. Consp. An. i. p. 77 ; id. Rev. Zool. 1854, 



p. 2o5 ; Scl. Cat. Am. B. p. 315; Eudes-Desl. Ann. Mus. Caen, 



i. p. 421. 

 Chlorestes y. Saucerottia erytbronota, Reich. Aufz. d. Col. p. 8. 

 Cblorestes erythronota, Reidi. Troch. Enum. p. 4, pi. 699. ff. 4562-3. 

 EJrythronota autiqua, Gould, Mon. Troch. v. pi. 316 (JNIav 1860) ; id. 



Intr. Troch. p. 160; E. C. Taylor, Ibis, 1863, p. 02. 

 Hemithylaca erytbronota, Cab. ^- Heine, Mus. Hein. iii. p. 37 ; 



Heine, J.f. O'rn. 1863, p. 192 ; Finsch, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 562. 

 Ariana erytbronota, Ahds. Sf- Verr. Class. Troch. p. 36 ; Muls. Hist. 



Nat. Ois.-Mouches, i. p. 323 ; id. Anti. <S'oc. Lin7i. Lyon, xxii. p. 207. 

 Amazilia ervthrouota, Elliot, Syn. Troch. p. 224 ; Sale. Cat. Strickl. 



Coll. p. 369. 



Adnlf. Upper surface shining reddish coppery, becoming deeper 

 on the rump and reddish purple on the longer tail-coverts ; crown 

 and under surface glittering grass-green : under tail-covorts reddish 

 brown or dusky, edged with pale grej- ; tail dark steel-blue : maxilla 

 black ; mandible tiesh-colour, the tip black. Total length about 3-6 

 inches, wing 1'95, tail 145. bill O'S. 



Female. Similar to the male (?). 



It has long been a question whether there is more than one form 

 of this bird — that is to say, whether A. erythronota, A. felicice, and 

 the bird from the island of Tobago are sufRcieiitly distinct to be 

 accurately defined. Gould admits two species, and mainly relies on 

 the colour of the upper surface to distinguish A. ertythronota from 

 A. felicict *. Elliot speaks of the upper tail-coverts of A. felicice 



* I find, however, that this character is most variable and untrustworthy, and 

 that if these two birds are to be separated at all, the darker colour of the tail 

 in the Trinidad specimens (A. '•rythronofa) alone serves to distinguish it from 

 the lighter-tailed continental {A.fcHcicB). The difference is very trifling. The 

 culour of the under tail-coverts, at first sight, appears to afford grounds for 

 separation ; but this character, too, is most variable, and due perhaps to sex, 

 perhaps to age or season. The birds with chestnut -red under tail-coverts seem 

 more prevalent in Venezuela. There remains the Tobago Is. bird, which, as Gould 

 says, is larger, with a more deeply forked tail. There can, I think, be little 

 doubt that this is the " Tobago Humming-bird " of Latham ( T. tobaci, Gm.). 

 In Gould's collection there is one of Kirk"s specimens from Tobago, and two 

 others ijerhaps from the same source. For the present I think it advisable to 

 keep this bird distinct, and to admit of the distinctness of the Trinidad from 

 the Venezuelan bird ; but I must say that questions of such nicety can only be 

 settled by an examination of very different materials from those before me. 

 Many specimens, with exact localities, with sexes properly determined and date 

 of capture recorded, ai-e essential for their discrimination, and not a mass of 

 trade skins with none of this necessary information. 



Should it prove that only one speciies can be admitted, this should bear the 

 name of A. tobaci (Gm.). notwithstanding Elliot's ajjiilication of the title to an 

 Agyrtria. Count Berlepsch has already dissented froui this determination, and 

 I quite agree with him on this point. 



VOL. XVI. ft 



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