104 



SYNOPSIS OF THE HUMMING-BIRDS. 



Male. Upper surface and flanks shining green. Under parts white; throat 

 spotted with brown, abdomen and under tail coverts tipped with green. Tail 

 black; bill black. Total length, 2f in. Wing, If in. Tail, | in. Culmen, | in. 



Female. Like the male. Throat without spots. Tail green at base, rest black, 

 the lateral feathers tipped with white. 



Genus LI.— MICROCHERA. 



MicrocTiera, Gould, Intr. Mod. Troch., octavo ed., p. 82 (1861) (descr.). 



Ch. Size minute. Bill long as the head, slender, 

 straight. Feathers of forehead project on to the culmen. 

 Nostrils covered. Wings long, primaries rather broad. 

 Tail sliort, square. Tarsi clothed. Sexes dissimilar. 



The species of this genus are remarkable for their 

 pure white crowns, a character entirely unknown among 

 the other members of the Family, 



Range. Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Veragua in Cen- 

 tral America. 



Two species only are known belonging to this genus. 



A. Top of head pure white. 



Key to the species. 



a. General plumage bluish-black with coppery reflections. 



b. General plumage shining purple. 



Type. 

 M. albocoronala. 



Tig. 51. 



Mitrocftfra atho-rnrnnnfa. (f- 

 Veragua. Verrcaux, 



1. M. alhocoronata. 



2. M. parxiirodris. 



1. Microchera albocoronata. 



MelUsuga alhocoronaia, Lawr., Ann. N. Y. Lye. Nat. Hist., vol. vi (1855), p. 137, pi. 4. 

 Microchera alhocoronata, Gould, Mon. Troch. (1858), vol. ii, pi. 116. — Id., Intr. Troch., octavo ed., p. 82. — 

 Frantz., Journ. fur Ornith. (1869), p. 315.— Muls. Hist. Nat. Ois. Mouch., vol. iii, p. 134 (1876). 



Hah. Veragua. 



Male. Front and crown silky-white. Chin dull greenish. General plumage 

 bluish-black, Avith coppery reflections. Wings purple. Median rectrices bronzy- 

 green, lateral ones white at base, then a band of blue-black and tips white. Under 

 tail coverts white. Maxilla black, mandible brownish. Total length, 2| in. 

 Wing, 1| in. Tail, | in. Culmen, f in. 



Female. Upper surfoce bronzy-green. Under surface white. Tail like that of 

 the male, except the blue-black on the lateral feathers is much narrower and the 

 white on the tips more extensive. 



2. Microchera parvirostris. 



Microchera parvirostris, Lawr., Ann. N. Y. Lye. Nat. Hist. (1870), p. 122, J . — Muls., Hist. Nat. Ois. 

 Mouch., vol. iii, p. 137.— Salv., P. Z. S. (1867), p. 171. 



