HUMMING-BIRDS. 445 



green, bounded beneath by greenish blue, below which is a tuft of metallic reddish or- 

 ange, each side of which is a white bar ; tail, metallic bronze-red, very brilliant. The 

 members of Metallura are dispersed over the mountains of the great Andean range, 

 from Colombia to Bolivia. One of the commonest and best known, M. tyrianthina, is 

 scattered over the mountains and valleys of New Grenada and Ecuador, and feeds upon 

 the insects found in all the different flowers and plants of those countries. It bears 

 the cold well, is not sociable, has a rapid flight, and makes its nest in ravines and spots 

 shaded from the sun and rain. The sexes differ much in hue of plumage. The 

 male is not of very generally brilliant plumage, though it has a luminous throat, but 

 the tail shines with metallic purple-bronze ; this is also possessed by the female, though 

 lighter in hue. Avocettula has but one species, a native of Guiana, but remarkable 

 for the bill, which is turned upward at the point, like an avocet's. In this respect it 

 agrees with Avocettinus, but it also possesses a tail of fiery copper-red, resembling in 

 this character the members of those genera with which it is grouped. Not much is 

 known of this curious bird, but it is said to live isolated in the great forests. Swainson 

 suggested as a cause for the curiously formed bill that the bird's principal sustenance 

 may be drawn from the pendant Siffnonics and similar plants, whose corollas are long 

 and generally bent in their tubes ; the nectar, being at the bottom, could not be read- 

 ily reached either by a straight or incurved bill, though very easily by one cor- 

 responding to the shape of the flower. It is not a common species, and but few 

 examples comparatively have been procured. 



Hhamphomicron and Oreonympha comprise a group of humming-birds remarkable 

 for the pendant metallic feathers, denominated ' beards,' beneath the throat. They 

 are birds of rather large size, without crests, with short and feeble bills in most of the 

 species, and constitute a well-marked section of the Trochilida3. They are found from 

 Colombia to Bolivia, one species, R. stanleyl, dwelling (among other localities) in the 

 crater of Pichincha, where it rifles the flowers of the Chiquiraga insignis, and con- 

 tinually battles with its far more attractive rival, Oreotrochilus pichincha. It is a 

 very sombre - plumaged bird, with the upper surface bluish violet; beneath, sooty 

 brown, and tail, bluish green ; throat, metallic green, terminating in lengthened ame- 

 thyst-colored feathers. A far more beautiful species is R. herrani, a native of Colorn- 

 bi;i and Ecuador. It remains motionless usually during the day, flying in the early 

 mornings and evenings, is peacefully inclined, but is frequently pursued and attacked 

 by other species of humming-birds that are in its vicinity. It makes short flights from 

 branch to branch, and explores the flowers to obtain its insect food. This beautiful bird 

 has the crown rusty-red ; chin, luminous metallic-green ; beneath this are elongated me- 

 tallic-red feathers, bounded on either side with black. The upper surface is bronzy 

 green ; rump, bronzy rufous ; tail, purplish black ; lateral feathers tipped with white. 

 Oreonympha nobilis is a magnificent species, about seven inches in length, with a long, 

 somewhat stout bill. It has forehead and centre of crown black ; top of head dark 

 blue; cheeks and sides of throat black; throat colored similarly to the species of 

 Rliamphomicron, but the pendant feathers are longer. The upper surface is bronzy 

 brown; under surface, grayish white ; the tail, bronze, except the external feathers, 

 which are white. This species was first obtained at Tinta in Peru, at an elevation of 

 11,500 feet. The flight of this beautiful bird is stated to be very peculiar. It starts 

 from one flower in the direction of another some two or three hundred yards away, 

 when suddenly it comes to a stop, throws up the body vertically, the tail being spread 

 out, and exhibits the metallic crown and beard glistening in the sun's rays. This 



