Journey through Colombia and Ecuador. 317 



the females the base of the mandible is yellowish horn- 

 colour. Iris black in the male, and brown in the female. 



47. DiGLossA ATERRiMA Lafr. 



This species we found very plentiful in the neighbourhood 

 of Quito, and we shot many of them with a blowpipe in the 

 gardens of the British Consulate. They are restless birds^ 

 and search every leaf and plant for insects in a most thorough 

 and systematic manner. They frequently flew in at our 

 open windows and doors to hunt about the room for spiders. 

 A pair of them bred in the " patio ^' of the Consulate in 

 November. Three different sites were chosen, and every 

 time the nest was pulled to pieces by the Humming-birds 

 [Petasophora iolata) which had built in the same '^ patio." 

 At length they were allowed to complete a nest among 

 the sword-like leaves of a species of aloe. It was built 

 of roots and moss, and was ingeniously suspended from the 

 sharp thorns on the edges of the leaves, about two feet 

 and a half from the ground. Two blue eggs, speckled with 

 red, were laid, but the nest was destroyed by the gardener 

 before the young were hatched. During our stay in Quito, 

 we shot an almost pure albino of this bird on Pichincha. The 

 young are very rusty-looking and speckled, and have the 

 outer margin of the wing-feathers brown. 



48. DiGLOSSA LAFRESNAVI (BoisS.) . 



We shot a good series at Nanegal in July, and also found 

 them rather plentiful around Quito (though not in the city) 

 and along the Western Andes up to 10,000 feet. Our 

 females appear to have the basal half of the mandible 

 yellowish. They seem to be pugnacious birds, and on several 

 occasions I saw them fighting with other species along the 

 hedges near Quito. 



49. DiGLOssA PERSONATA (Frascr) . 



Plentiful at Nanegal and Intag in July, and along the 

 Western Andes up to 10,000 feet. Unlike other members 

 of this genus which we came across, these birds were in small 

 flocks of seven or eight. The iris is reddish, and in some 

 specimens inclines to bright red. 



