Messrs. Salvin and Elliot on the Trochilidae. 353 



-XLI. — Notes on the Trochilidae. The Genus Thalurania. 

 By Osbert Salvin, M.A. &c, and D. G. Elliot, F.L.S., 

 F.Z.S., &c. 



[Continued from page 279.] 



The genus Thaluraniais one of the most clearly distinguished of 

 those composing the family of theTrochilidse ; and its members 

 are always easily recognizable by the distribution of their 

 colours, which exhibit great similarity among the species. 

 Their geographical range is confined to the more tropical por- 

 tions of America, no species extending south of the central 

 provinces of Brazil, or reaching as far north as Nicaragua. 

 Thalurania is essentially a lowland genus, none of the species 

 being found in the higher mountain-ranges. The members 

 of the genus are also forest-loving, and hence they are 

 absent from the sterile regions of Western Peru. In Brazil 

 T. glaucopis, T. eriphile, and T. wagleri are found, the 

 second of these extending across the Amazonian valley to the 

 head-waters as far as the eastern slopes of Columbia. Para 

 gives us one species, the T.furcatoides, barely distinguishable 

 from the Cayenne bird, T.furcata. Guiana produces, besides 

 the last mentioned, the T. watertoni, a rare and beautiful 

 species. In Columbia the T. columbica is found, which extends 

 northwards through the Isthmus of Panama to Nicaragua. 

 A single species, T. luciae, from the Tres Marias Islands, by 

 far the most northern locality in which any member of the 

 genus has been found, and as much out of its range as ' Psit- 

 tacula cyanopygia among the Parrots, has been described by 

 Mr. Lawrence. The type is in the Smithsonian Institution, 

 Washington. To the island of Trinidad a single species appears 

 restricted ; at least we have no knowledge of its occurrence 

 on the mainland; it is the T. refulgens. Another species, 

 the T. nigrofasciata, ranges apparently through Ecuador and 

 portions of Peru ; and the T. hypochlora is also found in the 

 former country, while Columbia is given as the habitat of 

 T. lerchL 



On carefully comparing the various birds composing the 

 genus Thalurania, we find that eleven species can be fairly 



2 c 2 



