Genera of Hu mining Brids. 85 



L'Elvire a queue mi-hlancJie, Muls., Hist. Nat. Ois. Mou., 

 1874, t. i., p. 265. 



Sex (?) Upperside shining grass-green. Median rectrices 

 bronze-green with tips brownish black, lateral white with a 

 wide band of purplish-black in the centre and white tips. 

 Throat white tipped with green. Breast and centre of 

 abdomen white. Flanks white at base, with tips shining 

 green. Outermost rectrices purplish-black at base, the rest 

 white. Bill black. Just under the mandible a rufous spot on 

 chin. A buffy white spot behind the eye. Wings purplish 

 brown. Feet and tarsi yellow, probably flesh colour when 

 alive. 



Total length, J^in. Wing 2. Tail, i^. Culmen, -|. 



I have only one specimen of this peculiar species. 



Genus XLII. Ramphomicron, Bon. Compt. Rend., 



1850, p. 382. 



Type : O. microrliynehus, Boissoneau. 



Bill extremely short, acutely pointed. Wings long. Upper- 

 surface and throat metallic. Tail deeply forked. Sexes unlike. 



Habitat. — Columbia, Ecuador, Peru. 



This genus forms the natural passage from Metalluridae 

 to Lesbidae. 



117. Ramphomicron mickorhvnchum, Boiss., Rev. Zool., 



1^39. P- 354- 



Trochilus brachyrhyncJius, Fras., P.Z.S., 1840, p. 16. 



Mellisuga microrhyncha , Gray, Gen. Birds, vol. i., p. 112. 



Thorn-bill , Gould, Mon. Troch., vol. iii., p. 189. 



Le Ramphomicron a petit bee, Muls., Hist. Nat. Ois. Mou., 

 1876, vol. iii., p. 163. 



Hirondelle, 



Habitat. — Columbia, Ecuador, Peru. 



Male. — Upperside metallic purple. Throat luminous light 

 grass-green. Underside dark bronzy-green, slightly grayish- 

 buff on the vent. Undertail coverts grayish-buff, greenish in 

 the centre. Tail purple-black, with glossy tips. Wings 

 purplish-brown. Bill black. 



Total length, 3|in. Wing, 2. Tail, 2\. Culmen, |. 



