184 Mr. H. Durnford on the Birds of 



of tala, sauce, and reeds, which grow abundantly in the 

 riverain wood ; but I soon found that I had only to stand still 

 for a few moments, and the inquisitive disposition of this bird 

 overpowered its fear of man. It is more sluggish in its move- 

 ments than either Phacellodomus ruber or P. frontalis, but, 

 with this exception, seems to resemble them closely in its 

 habits. Its food consists of small insects, principally Cole- 

 optera. Iris light fulvous ; upper mandible dark horn-colour ; 

 under mandible, legs, and feet pale slate. 



63. Calliperidia FURCiFERA (Shaw) ; Scl.etSalv. Nomencl. 

 p. 90. 



Our three Humming-birds are all summer visitors, a few 

 remaining during the winter. This species is the most un- 

 common, but is occasionally seen in the riverain wood, and, 

 like the other two, may generally be found hovering over 

 the flowers of the ceiba tree, a species of Acacia. I ob- 

 served one on the 29th of July last, at Belgrano railway-sta- 

 tion, perched on a telegraph-wire ; the day was very warm 

 and bright. ? . Beak dark brown. 



64. Hylocharis sapphirina (Gm.) y Scl. et Salv. /. c. p. 93. 

 Common in the summer. Beak light flesh-colour, tip very 



dark brown. 



65. Chlorostilbon splendidus, Vieill. ; Elliot, Ibis, 1875, 

 p. 165. 



The commonest species of Humming-bird we have, and 

 abundant in the summer. I saw one specimen on a bright 

 warm day the beginning of last June in a sheltered garden 

 near the river ; but it is unusual to see them in the winter. 

 , They feed chiefly from the flowers of the ceiba tree ; and the 

 stomach of one shot on the Tth March contained fragments 

 of minute Coleoptera. Beak dark flesh-colour, three quarters 

 of upper mandible from the tip black. 



66. Antrostomus parvulus (Gould). 



Resident, but probably, from its shy and retiring disposi- 

 tion, considered rarer than it really is. Like our Nightjar, 

 it frequents open spots in sheltered coppices or banks under 



