330 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



and lateral feathers not lengthened ; chest dull grayish white ; rest of 

 under parts dull light bronzy green, nearly uniform on sides and flanks, 

 elsewhere broken by whitish margins to the feathers, these particularly 

 distinct on the lower tail-coverts and along middle line of the belly. 

 Bill black, feet dusky. Length (skin), 3.40; wing, 1.85; tail, 1.30; mid- 

 dle pair of rectrices 0.25 shorter, the lateral one only 0.15 wide in mid- 

 dle portion.* 



Whether this bird represents a distinct species or a hybrid between 

 Trochilus alexandri and Calypte anna or between the former and Calo- 

 thorax lucifer can not now be determined; but there is very little, if 

 anything, in the writer's opinion to give the hybrid theory any weight. 

 In hybrids between species showing very obvious diiferences of form or 

 coloration, the characters are invariably intermediate between those of 

 the two parents ; but only in the shape and coloration of the tail and 

 coloration of the under parts do we see any approach to C. anna in those 

 respects which distinguish the present bird from T. alexandri. Mr. 

 Jeffries says that "the bird is roughly a T. anna without a crown-patch 

 or ruff, and with violet [?] for sapphire [?].t The tail is of the same type 

 as in T. anna, but smaller, and the angle spoken off is less than 25 

 instead of 33, so that in the closed tail the outer pair of feathers 

 overlap instead of crossing as in T. anna." 



As to the shape of the lateral rectrices, which Dr. Jeffries compares 

 with that of C. anna, I find on very careful comparison that there is no 

 essential difference in this respect between T. violajugulum and T. al- 

 exandri, as the following diagrams (Fig. 47, page 331) will show: 



The outer primary, instead of being narrow and slightly curved, as 

 in Calypte anna, is broader (though perhaps not relatively so) than in 

 Trochilus alexandri, and quite as strongly curved towards the tip. 



After a very careful examination of the type, I am able to find a really 

 striking or *' suggestive" resemblance to C. anna only in the coloration 

 of the under parts, which, except the gorget, is quite the same in the 



thau in the color itself, while there are also characteristic differences in the varia- 

 tions of color depending on different positions as to the light. Thus Attliis has 

 a distinct green reflection in a certain light, whereas Calypte and Calothorax in the 

 same light show violet-blue. T. alexandri is much less brilliant and less changeable, 

 but the individual variation is probably greater, the variation being from the nor- 

 mal violet through blue to a decided blue-green hue in some specimens, though such 

 are rare. In T. violajugulum the gorget is a redder purple than in any of the preced- 

 ing, nearly matching in color the gorget of some examples of Stellula calliope, though 

 not quite so red. 



* The tip of the bill having been shot away, the length of the culmeu can not be 

 given; the length of the bill from the base of the culmen to the tip of the lower 

 mandible, however, is 0.68 of an inch. 



t We should as little think of calling the color of the throat in T. violajugulum " vi- 

 olet" as we would the rich metallic purple-red of C. anna "sapphire." 



t In Dr. Jeffries description of the outer pair of tail-feathers of C. anna these are 

 said to be " abruptly narrow and linear shafts * * * forming, at the junction of 

 the first and second third, an abrupt angle of 25." 



