730 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



Genus PAT AGON A Gray. 



Patagona Gray, List. Gen. Birds (1840), p. 18, type P. gigas. 



Geographical Range. — Andes from Ecuador to Chili and Argentina 

 and the Cordillera of Patagonia (to Tierra del Fuego?). 



Patagona gigas (Vieillot) 



Trochilus gigas W€\\{o\., Gal. Ois. p. 296, pi. 180, 1825 (Brazil). 



Description. — Adult male, 59045 Acad. Nat. Sci. Philada. Cumbaya, 

 near Quito, Ecuador, May 2, 191 1. S. N. Rhoads. Total length, 8.10 

 inches; wing, 5.06; culmen, 1.45; tail, 3.25; tarsus, .35. Above, in- 

 cluding wings and tail, dull grayish brown with a more or less defined 

 green gloss; crown feathers with very narrow gray edgings, rump feathers 

 largely white on the sides and base, the adjacent feathers of the lower 

 back showing buff at base, under parts cinnamon, with grayish centers to 

 some of the feathers; outermost tail feathers lighter than the others except 

 at tip. 



Geographical Range. — Andes of South America from Ecuador to South- 

 ern Chili; the Cordillera of Western Patagonia; Tierra del Fuego (?). 



This is essentially a high mountain form of humming-bird and appears 

 to occur regularly in the Cordillera of Western Patagonia. That it may be 

 found in the mountain regions of Tierra del Fuego is possible but the ref- 

 erence as to its invading this region is somewhat ambiguous ; from Dar- 

 win^ the following quotation is copied ; he has been speaking of Trochilits 

 forficatus [= Eustephanus galeritns^ as it occurs in Tierra del Fuego, the 

 island of Chiloe and other points where he studied this bird, and goes on 

 to say: "When this species migrates in the summer southward, it is re- 

 placed by the arrival of another species coming from the north. This 

 second kind ( Trochilus gigas) is a very large bird for the delicate family 

 to which it belongs ; when on the wing its appearance is singular. Like 

 others of the genus, it moves from place to place with a rapidity which 

 may be compared to that of the Syrphus amongst flies, and the Sphinx 

 among moths ; but whilst hovering over a flower, it flaps its wings with a 

 very slow and powerful movement, totally different from that vibratory one 

 common to most species, which produces the humming noise. I never 

 saw any other bird, where the force of its wings appeared (as in the butter- 

 fly) so powerful in proportion to the weight of the body. When hovering 



'Nat. Voy. Beagle, p. 271, 1882. 



