166 Mr. D. G. Elliot on the Trocliilidse. 



Much confusion has always existed in regard to the proper 

 appellation that should be given to the green Humming-bird 

 coming from the more southern part of South America, with 

 its underparts reflecting a brilliant golden hue, in contradis- 

 tinction to the green of the other portion of the body. Some 

 authors consider that the name of bicolor, bestowed by Gmelin 

 upon the Saphir-cmei'aude of Bufibn (PL Enlum. vol. vii. 

 p. 21), is the right one; and as this would take precedence 

 over others, it is as well to look first upon what grounds 

 the supposition is based. Buffon says of his bird that " un 

 bleu de saphir eclatant couvre la tete et la gorge," which cer- 

 tainly applies to no species of Chlorostilbon. Gmelin's brief de- 

 scription is ^' Tr. smaragdino-aureus, capita gulaque cyaneis," 

 agreeing, as far as it goes, with Buffon^s. Lesson, in his 

 ' Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux-Mouches,^ in his description, 

 although he refers his bird to that of Buffon, does not say 

 that it has a blue head, but that frequently blue reflections 

 are observable, and that the "mandibule superieure est entiere- 

 ment noire et Pinferieure se trouve etre jaunatre, excepts la 

 pointe, qui est brune.^^ Now that will not answer at all for the 

 bird under consideration, which has the entire bill red or flesh- 

 colour, the point alone being brownish black. As Lesson 

 makes no mention of a white throat, his bird cannot be the 

 Hylocharis sappharina, as some suppose. I think, from the 

 descriptions given by these authors just named, as well as 

 that of Vieillot, published under the name of T. bicolor, in 

 the Nouv. Diet. vol. vii. p. 373, and in the Ency. Meth. p. 571, 

 that the species known as Thalurania wagleri was intended, 

 which has a blue head and throat, and which also answers 

 to much of the rest of those authors^ descriptions, particularly 

 of the bill ; but there is no Chlorostilbon known, that I am 

 acquainted with, which possesses the colours of head and body 

 and bill necessary to enable it to receive the name of bicolor, 

 as indicated by the authors whose works have just been men- 

 tioned. In 1817 Vieillot described the Masbello of Azara, 

 from Paraguay, as Trochilus splendidus; and his descrip- 

 tion and the locality of the specimens leave no doubt that 

 the bird afterwards named phaethon by Bourcier is intended. 



