°,' 8 gg J Richmond, Overlooked Descriptions of Hummingbirds. 3 2 7 



OVER-LOOKED DESCRIPTIONS OF FIVE HUM- 

 MINGBIRDS. 



BY CHARLES W. RICHMOND. 



A recent examination of a rare literary and scientific journal, 

 the ' Registro Trimestre,' ' has brought to light descriptions of 

 five species of Hummingbirds which have, apparently, not been 

 quoted in ornithological literature since Dr. Coues referred to 

 them in his ' Ornithological Bibliography ' 2 some years ago. The 

 ' Registro Trimestre ' is known to ornithologists chiefly as the 

 journal in which Dr. Pablo de la Llave described the Resplendent 

 Trogon (Pharomachrus mocinno) , although descriptions of three 

 species of Tetrao by the same author also appeared here. These 

 descriptions (in vol. I, nos. i and 2, Jan. and Apr., 1832), were, 

 on account of the scarcity of the original journal, reprinted in 

 the Revue et Mag. de Zool:, 1861, 23-33; 4 2 5~4 2 9 ; the last 

 mentioned also in La Naturaleza, VII, app., 1884, 63-65. It is 

 not generally known, however, that a second volume of the 

 ' Registro ' was commenced, and it is in this extra number (no. 5, 

 for Jan., 1833 2 ) that the forgotten descriptions of Humming- 

 birds, also by De la Llave, occur. Fortunately, only one name 

 in current use appears to be affected by De la Llave's paper, 

 although all of the species mentioned in it are credited to our 

 fauna. As, however, the shifting of names and unexpected com- 

 plications of nomenclature constantly taking place may at any 

 moment necessitate the use of one or more of these terms, it is 

 very desirable that the descriptions be reprinted and made gen- 

 erally accessible. 



The descriptions follow (verb, lit et punct.): 



T. [rochilus] Cohuatl. = Rostro curvo, nigro, plusquam pollicari. = 

 Corpus derostri basi ad uropigium, duobus pollicibus minus, totum supra 

 splendore aureo tinctum. = Remiges nigrescentes; cauda brevis furcata, 



1 Mexico, Svo, vol. I, 1832, nos. 1-4; vol. II, 1833, no. 5. 



2 Bull. Geol. and Geogr. Surv. Terr., V, no. 4, 18S0, p. 665. 



3 Not published before March, as the last article is dated Feb. 28. 



