326 BLUE-GORGE HUMMING-BIRD. 



themselves. The sapphire-colour covers the head 

 and throat, beyond which it blends, in the most 

 admirable manner, with the lucid golden emerald- 

 colour with which the breast, belly, and upper 

 part of the back are covered : the wings are brown , 

 the tail glossy blueish-black ; and the belly white : 

 the upper mandible is black, the lower whitish. 

 In another specimen observed by Buffon the throat 

 alone was sapphire-coloured, the head and re- 

 mainder of the body emerald-green. A most 

 beautiful specimen in the Leverian Museum an- 

 swered to the first description, and exhibited the 

 two colours in their utmost brilliancy: its size 

 was rather inferior to a specimen figured in the 

 work of Monsr. Audebert, but the tail was slightly 

 forked, as in his representation. Native of South- 

 America and the West Indies. The specimen 

 mentioned by Buffon was received from Gua- 

 deloupe ; that of Viellot and Audebert from Mar- 

 tinique. 



VAR. ? 



BLUE-GORGE HUMMING-BIRD. 

 L'Oiseau-mouche a gosier bleu. Viell. pi. 40. 



LENGTH near three inches and a half: colour 

 above coppery green : chin and throat fine sap- 

 phire-blue, appearing brown when viewed in some 

 lights, and purplish in others: breast and belly 



