LITTLE AMETHYSTINE HUMMING-BIRD. 

 Trochilus amethystoides. LE SSON. 



I.e petit Amethyste : Ornismya amethystoides, Lesson, 

 Trochilidees, pis. xxv. xxvi. and xxvii. 



THIS species Lesson thinks different from that re- 

 presented on the following plate, and apparently with 

 reason. It is scarcely more than two inches and a 

 half in length : the upper parts are golden-green, 

 with blue reflections ; the throat and fore part of the 

 neck are of a rich reddish amethyst colour, whereas in 

 the T. amethystinus it is of a pure and brilliant vio- 

 let. A collar of clear grey follows this beautiful 

 patch, which gradually passes into the shades of the 

 under parts. The tail is ample, and deeply forked. 



In the young assuming the perfect plumage fi- 

 gured by Lesson, the tail is rather rounded than 

 forked, and the whole plumage is of a deep and 

 sombre shade, relieved by the white which occupies 

 the place of the amethystine patch, by a white cres- 

 cent on the breast, and a band of the same colour 

 crossing the rump. In the succeeding plate of the 

 young, the likeness to the other representations is 

 scarcely recalled ; the upper parts are of a chaste 

 reddish-brown, tinged with green on the head, and 



