98 PASSERES, — TROCHILID^. 



figures and descriptions very imperfectly. Edwards 

 long ago gave a figure of it, v^hich is recognisable. 

 Lesson's figure and description are alike bad. The 

 attitude is that never assumed by a Humming-bird ; 

 the back of the neck is made green instead of black ; 

 the scaly emerald plumage is diminished to a mere 

 gorget instead of extending over the whole breast 

 and belly ; the beak and feet are both made yellow, 

 whereas the former should have been crimson, the 

 latter purple-black. He makes "Les Polythmus" 

 his tenth Race, which he thus defines : " Beak short, 

 straight: the external tail-feathers terminated by 

 two long blades or filaments {brhis)." Here every 

 character is incorrect. The beak, though not long, 

 is certainly not short ; it is not straight, but per- 

 ceptibly curved, particularly in the female ; the 

 curvature, it is true, varies in individuals, but I 

 possess several females whose beaks are more curved 

 than that of Mango ; it is not the external tail- 

 feather that is lengthened, but the second from the 

 outside ; lastly, this feather is not terminated by a 

 filament, or by any structui'e varying from the 

 other part ; it is simply produced in length. 



Mr. Swainson writes as if he were unacquainted 



with this species, for in speaking of the tendency 



' of the lengthened external feathers of the tail in 



certain families of birds to turn outwards towards 



black, the exterior two feathers on each side broadly tipped with white : 

 uropygials golden green ; the feathers graduate uniformly. "Wings as in 

 the male. Under parts white, the feathers having round tips of metal- 

 lic green on the sides of the neck, and being mingled with green ones 

 on the sides of the body. The plumage on each side of the nape, 

 erectile, as in the male, but somewhat shorter. 



