436 CORACIIFORMES 



CHAP. 



Docimastes ensifer of Colombia and Ecuador, which has a straight 

 bill, longer than the head and body together, is coppery-green, 

 with black cheeks and throat, and glittering green breast ; the 

 last being green and white in the hen. Florisuga mellivora, the 

 Jacobin, occurring from South Mexico to Amazonia, is green, 

 with the head and entire neck blue, the base of the hind-neck, 

 the abdomen, and the middle of the lateral rectrices white. The 

 female is chiefly green, varied with white below. Tojmza pella, 

 the " Crimson Topaz " or " King Humming-bird " of Guiana, is 

 golden-red above, with greenish-orange rump, dark purple and 

 cinnamon wings, and rufous lateral rectrices. The two median 

 tail-feathers are bronzy with black tips ; the next pair, which are 

 elongated and curve outwards, are piirplish-black ; the throat is 

 lustrous golden ; the narrow pectoral band is black ; the remaining 

 lower parts are crimson. The hen is grass-green, with crimson on 

 the throat, and black and cinnamon on the outer tail-feathers. 

 The nest has been stated to be made of a fungus, and certainly 

 the appearance justifies the assertion; but Dr. Paul, a great 

 authority on Fungi, writes of an example which he brought home 

 for the author from the Pomeroon river : " The felt is formed of 

 the fluff which clothes the young flower-spathes of the Kokerite 

 Palm {Maximiliana martiana)" and his evidence ought to settle 

 the question. T. pyra, of the Piio Negro and Eastern Ecuador, 

 is redder above, with no cinnamon on the wings or lateral 

 rectrices. The genus Oreotrochilus, and the four next succeed- 

 ing, have particularly strong feet. In common with some half 

 a dozen congeners which range southwards to Chili, 0. pichincha 

 of Ecuador inhabits the cloudy regions of the Andes near the 

 snow-line ; it is olive-green above, and has an entirely violet- 

 blue head and throat, the latter being followed by a black line 

 and white lower parts, wdiile the lateral tail-feathers are steel- 

 blue and white. The female is green above, ashy and white 

 below. Oreonympha nobilis of Peru, which has a peculiar habit 

 of suddenly stopping in its flight, is a large bird with somewhat 

 forking rectrices. The main colour is bronzy-brown, with a 

 blue crown divided in the centre by a brown bar ; the black 

 of the cheeks runs to a point below ; the chin is green and the 

 " beard " crimson ; the lower parts are greyish-white ; the tail has 

 the external pair of feathers white. The hen has a brown 

 and greenish crown and a black throat. Oxypogon guerini of 



