HUMMING-BIRDS. 445 



green, bounded beneatli by greenisli blue, I)el()w wliicli is a tuft of metallic reddish or- 

 ange, each side of which is a white bar ; tail, metallic bronze-red, very brilliant. The 

 members of Jltfalliira are dispersed over the mountains of the great Andean range, 

 from Colombia to Bolivia. One of the commonest and best known, M. tyrianthinu, is 

 scattered over the mountains and valleys of New Grenada and Ecuador, and feeds ui-on 

 the insects found in all the different flowers and plants of those countries. It bears 

 the cold well, is not sociable, has a rapi.l flight, and makes its nest in ravines and spots 

 shaded from the sun and rain. The sexes differ much in hue of plumage. The 

 male is not of very generally brilliant i)lumage, though it has a luminous throat, but 

 the tail shines with metallic purple-bronze; this is also possessed by the female, though 

 lighter in hue. Avocettula has but one species, a native of Guiana, but remarkable 

 for the bill, which is turned upward at the jioint, like an avocet's. In this resj)cct it 

 agrees with Avocettinus, but it also possesses a tail of fiery copper-red, resembling in 

 this character the members of those genera with which it is grouped. Not much is 

 known of this curious bird, but it is said to live isolated in the great forests. Swainson 

 suggested as a cause for the curiously formed bill that the bird's principal sustenance 

 may be drawn from the pendant Bignonice and similar ])lants, whose corollas are long 

 and generally bent in their tubes ; the nectar, being at the bottom, could not be read- 

 Dy reached either by a straight or incurved bill, though very easily by one cor- 

 responding to the shape of the flower. It is not a common species, and but few 

 examples comparatively have been procured. 



Rhamphomicron and Oreonympha comprise a gi"oup of humming-birds remarkable 

 for the pendant metallic feathers, denominated 'beards,' beneath the throat. They 

 are birds of rather large size, without crests, with short and feeble bills in most of the 

 species, and constitute a well-marked section of the Trochilidffi. They are found from 

 Colombia to Bolivia, one species, li. sfankyi, dwelling (among other localities) in the 

 crater of Piehincha, where it rifles the flowers of the Chiijuiraya insiynh; and con- 

 tinually battles with its far more attractive rival, Oreotrockilus piehincha. It is a 

 very sombre -plumaged bird, with the upjier surface bluish violet; beneath, sooty 

 brown, and tail, bluish green ; throat, metallic green, terminating in lengthened ame- 

 thyst-colored feathers. A far more beautiful species is It. herrani, a native of Colom- 

 bia and Ecuador. It remains motionless usually during the day, flying in the early 

 mornings and evenings, is peacefully inclined, but is frequently jiursued and attacked 

 by other sj>ecies of humming-bir.ls that are in its vicinity. It makes short flights from 

 branch to branch, and explores the flowers to olitain its insect food. This beautiful bird 

 has the crown rusty-red ; chin, luminous metallic-green ; beneath this arc elongated me- 

 tallic-red feathers, bounded on either side with black. The ujijier surface is bronzy 

 green; rnmi), bn>nzy rufous; tail, purpilish black; lateral feathers tipjjcd with white. 

 Oreonympha nohilis is a magnificent species, about seven inches in length, with a long, 

 somewhat stout bill. It has forehead aii<l centre of crown black; top of head dark 

 blue; cheeks and sides of throat black; throat colored similarly to the species of 

 Rhamphomicron, but the pendant feathers are longer. The u])per surface is bronzy 

 brown; under surface, gr.ayish white ; the tail, bronze, excejjt the external feathers, 

 which are white. This si>ecies was first obtained at Tinta in Peru, at an elevation of 

 11,500 feet. The flight of this beautiful bird is stated to be very peculiar. It starts 

 from one flower in the dii-eetion of another some two or three hundred yards away, 

 when suddenly it conies to a stop, throws up the body vertically, the tail being spread 

 out, and exhibits the metallic crown and beard glistening in the sun's rays. This 



