Mr. D. G. Elliot on the Trochilidae. 35 



187. Anas boschas^ L. Ordek (Duck) . 



A few were seen in the mountains ; and it was found com- 

 mon and breeding in the interior. 



188. Tadorna rutila (Pall.). 



Common throughout the interior. Young birds were found, 

 on the 17th May, at Duendje. 



Numbers of Terns were seen on the marsh near Kaisariyeh. 

 We did not obtain a specimen ; but they all appeared to belong 

 to one species, probably Sterna nigra. 



II. — Notes on the Trochilidae. 77*6 Genus Thaumatias. 

 By D. G. Elliot, F.R.S.E. &c. 



The genus Thaumatias is composed of various species of 

 Humming-birds which have a close resemblance to each other, 

 and possess a plumage for the most part of green and white 

 hues — in certain species brilliantly metallic, in others rather 

 dull in appearance. The resemblance existing between some 

 of them has been the cause of much confusion in their 

 nomenclature, as ornithologists, from the want of a sufficient 

 series of specimens to assist them in forming an opinion, have 

 been unable to discriminate the dilferences that really exist, 

 and so could not satisfactorily recognize the species. The 

 present paper, it is hoped, will, by means of the analytical 

 table, show the characters by which the species, admitted as 

 valid, may be distinguished Avithout difficulty. I trust also that 

 the review of their nomenclature may clear away some of the 

 confusion that has existed in their synonymy, and restore in 

 particular cases the names originally bestowed, and by which 

 the species should be known, although these appellations have 

 been permitted for many years to be thrust aside for others 

 which had no claim whatever to precedence. 



The genus Thaumantias (afterwards written Thaumatias) 

 was instituted by Bonaparte in the ' Comptes Rendus,^ 1850, 

 vol. xxx. p. 382, to include the Trochilus thaumantias, Linn., 

 S. N. 1766, p. 489; but as this species was already the type 

 of Brisson^s genus Polytmus, Bonaparte^s name cannot be 

 accepted. Mr. Gould, in his monograph, applied the term 



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