158 Mr. D. G. Elliot ofi the Troehilidse. 



The next smallest comes from Veragua^ '64; but Veragua 

 also furnishes one with a bill of "74. Ecuador gives speci- 

 mens of '70, as Panama docs, and also one of '79;, nearly "10 of 

 an inch longer. Columbia produces examples with bills of "08, 

 being among those of very small dimensions, and one of '80, 

 the longest of the whole series. It will, then, be clearly seen 

 that neither the short nor the long bill is characteristic of 

 specimens coming from any particular locality, but that the 

 two extremes are not unfrequently to be met with in the same 

 place ; and thus there are no grounds whatever left to cause 

 us to believe that the length of the bill, or wing, or tail, has 

 any specific value. 



Besides the names which I have already mentioned as the 

 prominent ones given to this species, there are probably one 

 or two more which will have also to become synonyms of an- 

 gustipennis, Eraser. One of them is the Chlorostilbon smarag- 

 dina of Cabanis & Heine. I have not seen the specimen on 

 which this name was founded, and therefore cannot state with 

 certainty what it may be ; but, from my general knowledge of 

 this species, I consider that the description was taken from a 

 specimen of angustipennis ; for I have one greatly answering it, 

 an example coming from the same country (Venezuela), and 

 which is undoubtedly Eraser's species. The authors state their 

 bird is like C. chrysogaster, but a little smaller, tail scarcely 

 forked, above and below shining green without any golden 

 hue*. My table shows how little reliance can be placed on the 

 size and amount of bifurcation of the tail; while the large series 

 of specimens before me exhibit all variations of colour, from all 

 green with dull crowns to brilliant crowns and bodies reflect- 

 ing all shades of gold in the midst of the green. I feel there- 

 fore that I probably shall not widely err if I place Messrs. 

 Cabanis and Heine's name among the synonyms of angusti- 

 pennis. In his ' Eauna Peruana,' Tsehudi describes what I 

 believe to be a young male of this species as Trochilus phceopy- 

 gus, the colour beneath, greyish white, not being found in any 



* "Simillima C. cJirysogastres, sed paulo minor, cauda vix furcata, 

 supra subtusque nitore virescente minus aurato. Long. tot. 3', al. 7'", 

 caud. 1'", rostr. culm. 7'"." 



