BRILLIANT HUMMING-BIRD. 327 



fine glossy green, with blue reflexions on the sides 

 of the neck : wings violet-black ; tail indigo-blue, 

 with a mixture or cast of green : lower part of the 

 belly white. The tail is rather rounded, in which 

 respect it seems to differ from the Sapphire and 

 Emerald Humming-Bird, of which it is probably 

 no other than a mere variety. It should be added 

 that the upper mandible is black, and the lower 

 white. Native of Guiana. 



To the description of the two brilliant Hum- 

 ming-Birds above-detailed, viz. the sapphirinus and 

 smaragdo-sapphirinus, I shall venture to hint a 

 degree of doubt whether the* two kinds may not in 

 reality constitute one and the same species, and 

 whether the different distribution of colours and 

 comparative variation of splendor occasionally ob- 

 served, may not be rather owing to sexual dif- 

 ferences and the various stages of plumage than 

 to a real specific difference; the general appear- 

 ance being nearly similar in both. 



BRILLIANT HUMMING-BIRD. 



Trocliilus Tucidus. T. aureo-mridis nitidis&imus, gula ptctorf cau- 



daque cyaneis, macula postoculari alba. 

 Bright gold-green H umining-Bird, with deep-blue throat, breast, 



and tail, and a white spot behind each eye. 

 Le plus beau des bec-fleurs. Azara Par. 



LENGTH three inches and a half: bill strait, 

 flesh-coloured, with a blackish tip. Both Monsr. 

 Azara and Sonnini suppose this to be the same 



