98 BULLETIN OF THE NUTTALL 



To prove this it would be necessary to go back in the history of the 

 species, and commence at the beginning. Gmelin seems to be the 

 first author who conferred a Latin name iipon the Rufous-throated 

 Hummer, which he did in his " Sj'stema Naturte " (1788), Vol. I, p. 

 497, sp. 57, and described it as follows: " Trochilus rufus .... 

 rostrum pedesque nigri ; colli pennte laterales nonnuUse elongatse mo- 

 biles ; tectrices alarum obscure virescentes ; rectrices splendide rufse 

 acuminatce, linea media longitudinali et apice nigris; cauda cu?ieata." 

 Moreover, he gives the habitat as "in sinu Americse Natka," and 

 quotes as his synonyms the Ruffed Honey-Sucker of Pennant's 

 "Arctic Zoiilogy," Vol. II, p. 290, No. 177, and the Ruff-necked 

 Humming-Bird of Latham's " Synopsis," Vol. II, p. 785, No. 56, t. 35, 

 whose specimen, as Latham informs us, came from Nootka Sound. 

 Now, as it is well known that the southern bird with the broad rec- 

 trices has a wide dispersion, going far to the north on the Pacific 

 coast, it might be said, " How are we to know that the specimen from 

 Nootka Sound was not this species, and that it was the one called 

 alleni by Mr. Henshaw 1 " Fortunately this can be satisfactorily 

 determined, and all doubts removed, by turning to the " Fauna 

 Boreali Americana" (Birds), and on page 324 we find that Swain- 

 son, in his article on the Trochilus (Selasphorus) rufus of Gmelin, 

 makes the following statement : " The discovery of this superb 

 species in the cold and inhospitable regions of Nootka Sound is due 

 to our great. navigator, Captain Cook, while to Dr. Latham belongs 

 the honor of first making it known to science. By a singular chance 

 we have at this moment before us one of the identical specimens, in per- 

 fect preservation, collected by the naturalists of that exp>edition ; it was 

 presented by the late Sir Joseph Banks to Mr. Bullock, and was 

 purchased by us at a very high price at the dispersion of that col- 

 lectors museum by public auction." In his description of the/or??i 

 of this bird, he says : " The tail, although short, is more cuneated 

 than rounded, the two middle pairs being longest, all are narrowed 

 and obtusely pjoitited at their extremities, but the two outer pairs are 

 particularly narrow^ It will thus be seen, I think, that the species 

 described by Gmelin from Nootka Soiuid was, without doubt, the 

 bird with narrow rectrices, as Swainson's specimen was a typical 

 one, if indeed it may not have been the original type ; and he was 

 too keen a naturalist not to have noticed the peculiar notch in the 

 rectrices next the median pair, observed in the bird with the 

 broad tail-feathers. He also speaks of the throat as being equally 



