6/6 MR. WHITELY ON PERUVIAN HUMMING-BIRDS. [DeC. 1, 



Oreonympha NOBILIS. 



The first specimen of this bird I obtained was at Tinta ; but I 

 have since found it in this province, and also on the highroad from 

 Tinta to Cuzco. How strange it seems, after so many years have 

 passed since the discovery of Peru, and so many distinguished people 

 have travelled over the same road, that they have never made men- 

 tion nor obtained a specimen of this really beautiful bird. 



Its flight is very peculiar. It takes a flight from one flower in the 

 direction of another, perhaps some two or three hundred yards off, 

 and all of a sudden comes to a dead stop, throws the body up ver- 

 tically, the tail being spread out, and the beautiful crown and beard 

 glittering in the sunshine. This action is frequently repeated in the 

 passage from one flowering shrub to another, evidently for the pur- 

 pose of taking insects in the air. 



This is one of the few Humming-birds where colour is seen to 

 great advantage. In most of the species it is never seen till the bird 

 is shot ; this is especially observable in Aglceactis castelnaudi, where 

 male and female are adorned with a tuft of white feathers on the breast, 

 aud it is impossible to distinguish male from female in the liviug state. 



Bourcieria inca. 



This is another most beautiful species, and its habits and flight 

 quite distinct from all others. And now, whilst speaking about flight, 

 it would not be out of place to record my own observations on the 

 subject ; for almost all naturalists are agreed that in most of the spe- 

 cies the flight is exactly similar ; but from this opinion I must beg 

 to differ, as when a Humming-bird flies past me I can tell in a 

 moment if it is new to me by the manner of its flight. 



B. inca is found in the wooded lunas on the eastern slopes of the 

 Andes, at an elevation of 10,000 feet, and principally resorts to a shrub 

 which grows to the height of ten or twelve feet, bearing beautiful 

 bunches of red wax-like flowers. In one of these bunches there may 

 be perhaps eighty or a hundred distinct flowers ; and the bird appears 

 to visit each in succession without missing a single flower, and, from 

 the length of time it necessarily takes hovering over one of the 

 bunches, is easily shot. But of the whole family of Humming-birds 

 it is perhaps the most conspicuous on the wing, with its beautiful 

 plumage of green, with the patch of chestnut on the breast, and the 

 white feathers in the tail. Its flight is very rapid *. 

 Cuzco, Peru. April 22nd, 1874. 



* The following is a complete list of the species of Humming-birds of which 

 specimens have been sent home bj Mr. Whitely, with references to his notes 

 upon them in this and his former papers added. — P. L. S. 



Pkaethomis guyi, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 189. 



■ sapercUiosiis, P.Z.S. 1873, p. 188. 



Aphantochroa hyposticta, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 189. 



Oreotrochilus estelte, P. Z. S. 1867, p. 987. 



Iolcema whitclyana, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 188. 



Panoplites mattkcwsi, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 784. 



Acestrura mulsaiiti, supra, p. 675. 



