338 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.xxiv. 
Colombia in its smaller size, this most appreciable in the tail (of males), 
though the bill averages decidedly shorter. 
We never observed them in Quito, but in November and December we found them 
fairly numerous on the slopes of Pichincha above Quito. Local name, " Finos." 
ZODALIA THAUMASTA, new species. 
Char,'<. .v/>.— Similar to Zodalia glyceria (Gould), but with no whitish 
on any of the tail feathers; the glittering throat patch grass green 
instead of olive; bill of greater length; wings and tail slightly shorter. 
Description.— Ty^Q, adult male, No. 173911, U.S.N.M.; lllalo, 
Valley of Chillo, Ecuador, November, 1898; Goodfellow and Hamilton. 
Upper surface shining bluish green; wings dark brown with a purplish 
gloss, the superior wing-coverts like the upper parts; tail rich purple, 
the middle rectrices tipped with bluish green, the outermost pair with 
the outer webs and margins of inner webs deep brown washed with 
purplish; sides of head and neck like the back; chin and throat glitter- 
ing grass green; breast and abdomen shining bluish green, the feathers 
with ochraceous margins, these most extensive posteriorly; lower tail- 
coverts ochraceous buff spotted wdth purplish; lining of wing bluish 
green wnth rust}" edgings. Length of wing, 62 mm. ; tail, 77 mm. ; 
exposed culmen, 15 mm. 
Adult female. — Upper parts, tail, and wings similar to the male but 
duller; lower surface deep buff', spotted with bluish green, these 
markings largest on breast and sides; crissum almost immaculate. 
Length of wing, 56 mm. ; tail, -±9 mm. ; exposed culmen, 14 mm. 
The two specimens above described are both from the same locality 
and are the onlv ones of this Aery interesting new species of a rare and 
little-known group. The black shafts and uniform deep brown of the 
exterior webs of the outer tail-feathers distinguish at sight the male of 
this species from that of Zodalia glyceria, and other differences not 
apparent from descriptions might be found were specimens of the 
two compared. If the female of Zodalia ortord., described by Salvin ^ 
and ])y Hartert,^ belong really to that species, and be not simply the 
immature of Z. thaurnasta., the female of the latter may be distinguished 
from the same sex of the former bj^ the entire lack of whitish tips to 
the tail-feathers. 
Perhaps this is the rarest of all the Ecuadorian humming Ijirds, and is probably 
now almost extinct. I was told by an old resident in Quito, and one who knows all 
the birds well, that in the parts they once frequented they had not been seen for 
years, in fact, not since the last eruption of Cotopaxi. He said they built their nests 
on the maize stalks, in the vicinity of that volcano, and were nesting at the time 
of the last great eruption, when the country for many miles around was covered deep 
in ashes, and darkness reigned for two days. Numliers of birds of all sorts perished 
at this time, and probably the young and nests of Z. thamaasla also, which inhabited 
lOat. Birds Brit. Mus., XYI, 1892, p. 142. ^Tierreich, IX, 1900, p. 184. 
