438 CORACIIFORMES CHAP. 
muff-like tufts of black, white, or buff, which cover the metatarsi. 
To take an example of the twenty or more species, where the sexes 
are fairly similar, /. cupreiventris is bronzy-green, with brighter 
under surface, purplsh-black tail, reddish abdomen, and lustrous 
blue under tail - coverts. Calothorax lucifer, the “ Mexican 
Star,” is golden-green above and white below, with shining 
lilac-red throat; it has purplish-black lateral rectrices. tipped 
with white, of which the outer is filiform, as are the external 
four in Acestrura of northern South America.  Selasphorus rufus, 
of western North America, from Alaska to Mexico, is cinnamon 
above and white below, with golden-green crown and glittering 
red throat; the head-feathers are bordered with rufous, and the 
sub-median tail-feathers are emarginate. The female has chiefly 
green upper and white under parts. S. platycercus, resembling 
the next species, but with a rosy-red throat, occupies the Rocky 
Mountains and extends to Guatemala, the genus reaching Panama. 
They constantly have the outer primary or outer rectrix attenuated. 
Trochilus colubris, found at different seasons from the Fur Countries 
and the Great Plains to Guatemala, is green above and whitish 
below, the chin being black, the throat glittering ruby-red, and the 
forked tail chiefly bluish-black. The hen lacks the red colour. 7”. 
alexandri of western North America differs in its violet-purple 
throat. Calypte annae and C. costae of the South-West United States 
are green birds with mainly whitish lower surface, and have the 
crown and throat rosy and lilac respectively. The latter form has 
elongated gular plumes, as has the bluer Cuban C. helenae, where 
they are crimson. The minute Jellisuga minima, or “ Bee Hum- 
nung-bird,” of Jamaica and San Domingo is green above and white 
below, with dusky throat-spots in the male. The equally small 
Chaetocercus bombus of Ecuador is green, with rosy throat, buff breast, 
and chiefly purplsh-black rectrices, of which the outer four are 
short and spiny; the female is green above and cinnamon below. 
Thaumastura cora, the “ Peruvian Sheartail,’ is golden-green, 
with crimson throat shading into blue, and white under surface ; 
the black and white tail has two enormously elongated sub- 
median feathers. The hen is white below, with buffish throat 
and flanks. Prymnacantha popelairii, one of another group of 
“Thornbills ” (p. 457), has a yellowish-green crest with two long 
black filamentous plumes; the upper parts are bronzy-green with a 
white rump; the lower parts are black, with a glittering green 
