THE HUMMING BIRDS. 367 



coverts chestuiit-ruious ; aual aud femoral downy tufts white; bill red- 

 dish at base for a greater or less distance (brownish in dried skins), 

 the terminal portion black; length (skins), about 3.80-4.35; wing, 2.00- 

 2.40; tail, 1.45-1.70; exposed culmen, 0.70-0.00. Adult female similar to 

 the male, but usually more or less duller in color. Young similar to 

 adults, but plumage duller, the rump more tinged with rusty, aud the 

 head washed with rusty. 



Adtdt male (No. 50370, Guatemala City, Guatemala ; Dr. Van Patten): 

 Above metallic bronze-green, more decidedly bronzy, but also darker 

 aud dullei', on top of head, the rump iuclining to golden bronze; upper 

 tail-coverts aud tail, including middle pair of feathers, chestnut, the 

 latter glossed with purple (especially underneath), and each feather 

 broadly uuirgined terminally with deep bronze, this color also edging 

 the outer webs; remiges dull brownish slate or dusky, faintly glossed 

 with purplish. Lores deep rusty; chin, malar region, throat, aud 

 chest brilliant metallic yellowish green, somewhat broken by the light 

 grayish brown basal portion of the feathers here and there exposed ; 

 sides and Hanks metallic bronze-green ; median portion of breast and 

 belly light grayish brown; femoral aud anal tufts white; under tail- 

 coverts light chestnut. Upper mandible brown (reddish in life), tipped 

 and edged with blackish ; under mandible brownish white (red or Ilesh- 

 colored in life), with tip dusky ; feet dusky. Length (skin), 3.80; wing, 

 2.30; tail, 1.40 (middle feathers 0.05 shorter); exposed culmen, 0.78. 



Adult female (No. 38987, Panama, January 7, 1865; Fred. Hicks): 

 Similar to the male, as described above, but tail aud its coverts rather 

 lighter chestnut; belly much lighter brownish gray, aud bill more ex- 

 tensively dusky. Length (skin), 3.80, wing, 2.10 ; tail, 1.35; exposed 

 culmen, 0.85. 



Young female (No. 40452, San Juan, Nicaragua, June 7, 1865; H. E. 

 Holland) : Similar to the adult, but duller green above, with feathers 

 of the lower back and rump broadly margined with rusty; anterior 

 lower parts with green much less brilliant aud much interrupted by 

 dull brownish gray, approaching grayish white on the chin. Upper 

 mandible entirely blackish. 



With very numerous specimens before me, representing various local- 

 ities, from eastern Mexico to Bogota, I am unable to discover any 

 constant difierences coincident with locality, even in specimens from the 

 most remote districts. There is a considerable range of individual varia- 

 tion, involving the amount of blackness of the ujaxilla (some specimens 

 having the upper mandible wholly blackish except the extreme base, 

 while in others only the end is dark-colored), length of wing and bill, etc. 

 These differences, however, appear to be purely individual, aud not at 

 all, so far as I can see, local. Some Costa Eicau specimens are the 

 largest in the collection, as well as the darkest in color, but there is 

 much variation in both respects in a series of 8 exami)les from that 

 country. 



