Ornitholoffical Journey through Colombia and Ecuador. 207 



XIV, — Results of an Oi-nithologicalJourney through Colombia 



and Ecuador. — Part V. By Walter Goodfellow, F.Z.S, 



[Concluded from p. 67.] 



Fam. TROCHiLiDiE. 



(316-43-2.) : .^ 



We devoted special attention to the Humming-birds during 

 our expedition, but almost the entire collection of the 

 members of this family has gone to the U.S. National Mu- 

 seum, Washington, together with copious field-notes relating 

 to them. It is now being worked out there by M r . Oberholzer, 

 and an account of it will shortly be published containing our 

 notes and results in full, but we may venture to make some 

 general remarks. We obtained examples of what we con- 

 sidered to be about 116 species of this charming group, but the 

 number will probably be much increased when the specimens 

 have been properly worked out. With very few exceptions, 

 all of them were killed with an Indian " bordaquera " or blow- 

 pipe, for it would be useless to kill them with a gun, however 

 small the shot was. Consequently all our skins are perfect, 

 and there is hardly one among them that is poor. It is gene- 

 rally supposed that a European cannot acquire the use of a 

 blow-pipe. In one sense this is correct, so far as shooting 

 with darts goes, for then a tube 9 or 10 feet long must be 

 used, which a " European '^ unaccustomed to it will find very 

 unwieldy. In Popayd,n, however, we met a young Colombian 

 gentleman who was very proficient in the vise of the blow- 

 pipe, and from him we learnt how to cut the Indian tubes 

 down to 5 or 6 feet in length and to use clay pellets instead 

 of poisoned darts. We did this and practised on small birds 

 in the garden, and none were more surprised than ourselves 

 at the rapid progress we made. 



We found Humming-birds scarce in Southern Colombia 

 during the time of our visit, whereas in Ecuador at certain 

 altitudes they predominated. If an ornithologist were to visit 

 the Central Cordillera at the back of Popaydn I am sure that 

 he would find there a distinctly new species of Lesbia. I saw 

 examples of it on several occasions at an altitude of about 



