242 



GUEKINS HELMET-CKEST. 



by Mr. Linden, the discoverer of Linden's Helmet-crest, in a letter written to .Mr. Gould, 

 and published in his monograph of the Humming-birds. 



"I met with this species for the first time in August, 1812, while ascending the Sierra 

 Nevada de Merida, the crests of which are the most elevated of the eastern part of the 

 Cordilleras of Columbia. It inhabits the regions immediately beneath the line of pei-petual 

 congelation, at an elevation of from 12,000 to 13,000 feet above the level of the sea. 

 Messrs. Funck and Sclilim found it equally abundant in the Paramos, near the Sierra 

 Nevada, at the comparatively low elevation of 9,000 feet. It appears to be confined to the 



regions between the eighth and ninth degrees 

 of north latitude. 



It occasionally feeds upon the thinly- 

 scattered shrubs of this icy region, such as 

 the hypericum, myrtus, daphne, arborescent 

 espeletias, and towards the lower limit on 

 bejarias, but most frequently upon the pro- 

 jecting ledges of rocks near to the snow. 

 Its flight is swift, but very short ; when it 

 leaves the spot upon which it has been 

 perched, it launches itself obliquely down- 

 wards, uttering at the same time a plaintive 

 whistling sound, which is also occasionally 

 uttered while perched ; as well as I can 

 recollect. I have never heard it produce 

 the himiraing sound made by several other 

 members of the same group, nor does it 

 partake of their joyous spirit or perpetual 

 activity. Neither myself nor Messrs. Funck 

 and Schlim were able to discover its nest, 

 although we all made a most diligent search. 

 Its food appears principally to consist 

 h ^.^^^^ '-- ^iU^^fl^Ki^f^^ ^^ minute insects, all the specimens we pro- 



'\^^^r /iJI P^S^mWSmtKf - cured liaving their stomachs filled with small 



flies." 



The head and neck of the adult male are 

 black, a line of white running along the 

 centre. The long plumes of the throat are 

 white. Round the neck and the back of the 

 head runs a broad white band. The upper 

 surface of the body and the two centrid 

 tail-feathers are bronze- green, and the other 

 feathers are a warm reddish bronze, having 

 the basal half of their shafts white. The 

 under surface is a dim brownislr bronze. 

 The length of the male bird is about five 

 and a quarter inches. The female is coppery 

 brown upon the head and upper surface of 

 the body, and there is no helmet-like plume 

 The throat is coppery brown covered with 

 white mottlings, and the flanks are coppery brown washed with green. Tlie length of the 

 female is about one inch less than that of lier mate. 



Another species, the Warrior of dealers, and the Gueein's Helmet-crest of natu- 

 ralists {Oxypogon Guerenii), is an inhabitant of tlie higher parts of the Columbian Andes, 

 here it is tolerably common. It is easily to be distinguished from the preceding species 

 by a bright green line which passes down the centre of the beard, and of which only a very 

 faint indication is perceptible in the Black Warrior. There is also much more white upon 

 the tail. 



ANGELA STAR-THR OXi.—HdtumasUr A'ngehe. 



on the head nor beard-like tuft on the chin. 



