Mr. D. G. Elliot on the Trochilidse. 167 



Vieillot says " le bee incarnat, et a pointe noire/^ and that all 

 the plumage, with the exception of the throat, the front of 

 the neck, the tail, and a white spot on the belly, is a shining 

 golden green. I know of no other species of Humming-bird 

 from the locality given by Vieillot which could possibly an- 

 swer to his description ; and I see no reason whatever that 

 should cause ornithologists to hesitate in accepting his name 

 as having prior claim to the bird afterwards named phaethon 

 by Bourcier. 



Chlorostilbon splendidus is closely allied to C. pucherani; 

 but, besides being much larger, it has always the belly 

 and lower parts a brilliant golden hue, with the exception 

 of the narrow white line observable in the anal region of all 

 adult males belonging to the species of this genus. This 

 colouring is constant ; and united with its larger size, the two 

 together appear to indicate a specific distinction between the 

 birds. Like other species of Chlorostilbon, the bills vary 

 greatly among individuals, and those of two now lying before 

 me, one from Bolivia, the other from Mendoza, measure from 

 the gape "94 and "80 inch respectively, while a second specimen 

 from Mendoza, from same locality as the last, and collected by 

 the same person, viz. Weisshaupt, has a bill "85 inch in length. 

 This would seem to show how untrustworthy the size of the 

 bill is on which to establish a species in this grovip. A small 

 race of this form has been called aureiventris by D^Orbigny and 

 Lafresnaye. Three specimens are now before me. In colour 

 of plumage they are precisely like the larger specimen, but 

 have a shorter wing, it measuring 1*80 as compared with 2*09 

 inches in my largest specimen ; but others vary between these, 

 as, for instance, one from Chuquisaca [ex Gould) has a wing 

 2*03 inches, another from Mendoza, 1"93 inch ; and it would 

 be easy, with a large number of specimens, to fill up all the 

 intermediate dimensions, as I have shown can be done (in my 

 table) in the case of C angustipennis. 



Specimens examined : — 



Brazil? 1 {Leadbeater) , Bolivia 1 [Leadbeater) , Mus. P.L.S.; 

 Mendoza 1 [Weisshaupt), Mus. S. & G. ; Chuquisaca, Peru, 

 1 [ex Gould), Mendoza 2 [Weisshaupt), Chili 1 [ex Verreaux), 



N 2 



