HECURVED-BILLED HUMMING-BIRD. 125 



dorsal surface of the upper mandible is straight, and 

 becomes at once curved. The upper part of the body, 

 from the forehead to the tail-coverts, is of a bluish 

 green, with metallic reflections ; the throat, forepart, 

 and sides of the neck, extending to the upper part of 

 the breast, are of a brilliant emerald green ; a grayish- 

 brown line crosses the middle of the belly, reaching to 

 the crissum, which is white. The flanks and under 

 tail-coverts are golden green, and the plumes covering 

 the thighs are whitish. The tail is composed of 

 feathers of unequal length, the outer ones being gra- 

 dually shorter than those in the middle. They are 

 golden green in the centre, bluish at the sides, and 

 above present a bronzed reddish tinge. The winge 

 are blackish purple, and reach to the extremity of the 

 tail. 



A comparison of the above description by Lesson, 

 and of what follows from Swain son's Illustrations, 

 with that of the former plate, will point out the dis- 

 tinctions between T. avocetta and T. recurvirostris. 



Mr Swainson observes as follows : 



" The extraordinary formation in the bill of this 

 beautiful little creature, is without parallel in any 

 land bird yet described, and presents in miniature 

 a striking resemblance to that of the avoset. It is 

 almost impossible to conjecture rightly the use of this 

 singular formation ; but it appears to me not impro- 

 bable, that the principal sustenance of the bird may 

 be drawn from the pendant bignonacese, and other 

 Similar plants, so common in South America, whose 



