TOPAZ-THROATED HUMMING-BIRD. 



The bill is moderately long, curved, and black : 

 the upper part of the head and neck are also of a 

 glossy black, sinking pretty suddenly, but not quite 

 abruptly, into a fine deep orange-purple colour, 

 which is diffused over the back and smaller wing- 

 coverts: the throat, to a considerable distance 

 down the neck, is of the most splendid topaz yel- 

 low, with the lustre of polished gold when exposed 

 to the light, and changing, when viewed in par- 

 ticular directions, to deep emerald green : this 

 large bed of topaz-colour is separated from the 

 breast and sides of the neck by a narrow bar or 

 line of black, beneath which the whole breast 

 and sides are of a deep, but shining purple rose- 

 colour, growing somewhat less intense as it passes 

 down the abdomen: the wings are of a purplish 

 brown; the rump of a bright grass-green, and the 

 tail orange-purple, except the two middle feathers, 

 which are purple brown, and exceed the rest by 

 about four inches: they are of a narrow shape, and 

 are slightly pointed at the tips : the thighs are very 

 thickly coated with white feathers, and the legs are 

 black. A slight variation in the plumage of this 

 bird is observable in different individuals, in some 

 of which the middle part of the tail is grass-green, 

 and the side feathers orange or chesnut with green 

 tips. 



The female is very far inferior in point of bril- 

 liancy to the male, being of a dark coppery-green 

 colour, with a slightly-gilded rufous or copper-red 

 stripe down the throat; dusky wings; white thighs, 

 very thickly feathered; and ferruginous tail, with 



