7 A. Oberholser, Description of a New Amazilia. ff^'^'^ 



reduced, for, with the exception of the extreme bases of the cen- 

 tral feathers, and very narrow edgings to the exterior rectrices, the 

 entire tail is chestnut. In some examples, as in the one just 

 mentioned, this bronze green on the rectrices is partially or wholly 

 replaced by a dark metallic purple, very like the color of the wing 

 quills. Some specimens have the rufous margins to the upper 

 tail-coverts much broader and more conspicuous, this being pos- 

 sibly an indication of immaturity, although in none of the birds 

 examined is this marking entirely absent. The color of the upper 

 parts presents quite an appreciable variation, being in some cases 

 much less golden than in others. Owing to narrower slate col- 

 ored edging of the feathers on the crown, that part in some 

 specimens is very nearly like the back, although in many it is 

 noticeably even duller than in the type. An individual difference 

 is apparent in also the shade of the throat, some having the green 

 much more yellowish than others. 



This Hummingbird was first recorded from the United States 

 by Dr. J. C. Merrill,^ who captured a specimen at Fort Brown^ 

 Texas, in 1876. While it is at some places within our borders an 

 abUndant summer resident, its range seems to be quite restricted, 

 for in very few of the numerous papers on the birds of Texas is 

 any mention made of the species. So far as the present writer 

 has been able to ascertain, there are in the State only four locali- 

 ties where Amazilia c. chalconota has been taken. These are Fort 

 Brown, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, and Beeville. Of the last 

 mentioned, which is the northernmost record, there appears to be 

 no published account. There are a^vailable no specimens from 

 the State of Tamaulipas, in Mexico, so that it is impossible to 

 determine to which form the breeding birds from this region 

 belong. 



True Amazilia cerviniventj-is exhibits a range of individual vari- 

 ation similar to that existing in Amazilia c. chalconota. Only two 

 of the specimens here referred to cervinitsentris are with any diffi- 

 culty to be distinguished from chalconota. One of these, from 

 Tlacotalpan, Vera Cruz, is apparently an immature bird ; and 

 though spmewhat intermediate in the color of the abdomen, seems 



' Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, II, 1877, 26. 



