FAMILY TROCHILIDAE 273 



ary 24 shot a male on Isla del Rey, adjacent, as it fed at flowers in a tall 

 tree at the border of a mangrove swamp. Others were seen January 25 

 at Ensenada, nearby, and on January 27 along the border of a man- 

 grove swamp near the mouth of the Rio Cacique on Bahia Santelmo 

 at the southern end of the island. 



PHAETHORNIS LONGUEMAREUS (Lesson): Little Hermit, 

 Ermitano Enano 



Trochilus Longuemareus Lesson, Les Trochilides, May 1832, p. 15, pi. 2. 

 (Cayenne.) 



A hermit hummingbird, dwarf in size, in life appearing rufous- 

 brown. 



Description. — Length 90-98 mm. Adult male, above bronzy to cop- 

 pery bronze-green, darker on the crown ; rump and upper tail coverts 

 chestnut ; tail with elongated central feathers dark metallic green for 

 most of length, grayish brown at end, tipped with white; lateral 

 tail feathers greenish black edged with cinnamon, in some tipped with 

 white ; wings dusky with a violet sheen ; prominent superciliary and a 

 rictal streak cinnamon to cinnamon-buff, with the space between on 

 side of head dull black ; f oreneck and upper breast grayish cinnamon, 

 feathers on the chin with partly concealed bases of slaty black ; lower 

 breast, abdomen, sides, and under tail coverts brighter in color, more 

 rufous. 



Female, usually paler on lower surface. 



Like the larger species of the genus these are birds of the forest 

 where they range low near the ground. Often they rest on perches 

 elevated less than half a meter in shadows that hide them except for 

 the light tail tip, that in its regular vibrations attracts the eye. With 

 a curiosity equal to that of their larger companions they dart in to 

 hover, a meter or less from the face of the observer, but at any 

 threatening motion dash off and disappear. In pugnacious attacks on 

 companions their wings may produce a loud humming sound. They 

 feed at flowers, often at low jungle blossoms of small size. 



While they are widely spread wherever there is a cover of trees, they 

 are common only in the denser humid forests on the Caribbean slope, 

 and in Darien. From Chiriqui east through the Province of Panama 

 they are rather rare. A few range upward to the lower edge of the 

 Subtropical Zone. 



Two subspecies are recognized in the Republic, distinguished by 

 slight differences in depth of color. 



