184 



THE PICHINCHIAN HILL-STAR. 



extremities of the loftiest branches, while the females hover near the ground. Partly owing 

 to this j)eculiarity, and partly on account of her sober tinting, the female generally escapes 

 observation. The plant on which the Chimborazian Hill-star is usually found is the Chuquira- 

 qua insignis, a floweiing alpine shrub, with large pale yellow blossoms, and the bird is so closely 

 attached to this shrub, that it is never found at any great distance from its golden flowers. 



The nest of this species is made of lichens, and is fastened to the side of a rock in some 



situation where it is protected 

 by an overhanging ledge of 

 rock. 



Except upon the head and 

 throat, the Chimborazian Hill- 

 star is not so brilliantly clothed 

 as many of its compeers, but 

 upon those parts the creature 

 shines vdth rainbow lightness. 

 The general color of the upjjer 

 parts of the body is pale dusky 

 olive-green, with the exception 

 of the wings, which have the 

 purple-brown tint usual among 

 Humming-birds. The under 

 parts are white, deepening into 

 dusky-black upon the imder 

 tail-coverts, and there is a line 

 of black down the centre of the 

 abdomen. The head and throat 

 are of the brightest and most 

 resplendent blue, with the ex- 

 ception of an emerald -green 

 patch in the centre of the 

 throat. This j^atch is triangu- 

 lar in shape, and has one of 

 the angles pointing upwards. 

 Round the neck runs a broad 

 collar of deep velvety-black, 

 abruptly dividing the brilliant 

 hue of the head and throat from the plain black and white of the chest and abdomen, and 

 giving the bird an appearance as if the head and throat of some brightly colored l^ird had 

 been joined to the neclv and body of a plainly clad individual of another species. The two 

 central feathers of the tail are nearly of the same hue as that of the back, the two exterior 

 featliers are white for the first third of their length, and greenish-black for the remaining two- 

 thirds, while the other feathers are white, edged with greenish -l)lack. 



The female is a very soberly clad bird, being olive-green upon the head, white spotted with 

 green upon the throat, and the remainder of the body olive-green, white, and brownish-black. 



CHIMBOKAZIAN HILL-STAR.— 07W^r«(;Aj/«.> otambirrazo. 



There are several species of Hill-stars, among which the Pichhstchian Hill-stae is the 

 most remarkable. 



Tills bii'd is very local, inhabiting the volcanic: mountain of Pichinca, in the republic 

 of Ecuador, and being only found in a zone of five or six Inmdred feet in width, at an ele\ation 

 of about eleven hundred feet above the level of the sea. It is a very remarkable fact, that 

 although both these species inhabit volcanic mountains within thirty miles of each other, and 

 arc found at nearly the same elevation, the Picliinchian Hill-stai\is never seen iipon Chim- 

 borazo, nor the Chimborazian Hill-star upon Pichinca. This specieL is very like the preceding 

 bttt may be easily distinguished by the absence of the triangular green spot upon the throat. 



