HUMMING-BIRDS. 31 



are inhabitants of the higher Andes from Ecuador to Chili, each species having a 

 peculiar and restricted range. Thus, 0. 'pichincha and 0. ch'mihorazo occur only in 

 Ecuador, the former being confined to the volcanoes of Pichincha and Cotopaxi, and 

 the latter to that of Chimborazo ; 0. adelcn lives on the Andes of Bolivia, 0. leuco- 

 pleurus on those of Chili, while 0. "nielanogaster and 0. esteUce inhabit the Andes 

 of Peru, the latter also occurring on those of Bolivia. The Chimborazan species, of 



GDIANAN KING HUMMIXG-BIRD {^ nat. size). 



which an illustration is given on p. 22, is olive-green, with the whole of the head, 

 including the crown and the throat, deep glittering violet-blue, the rest of the 

 under surface of the body being white, with the middle of the abdomen and flanks 

 blackish brown. Most of these hill-stars have a patch of black or chestnut along the 

 abdomen, and the Chimborazan species differs from its ally only in having the 

 centre of the throat green instead of being entirely blue. The pichincha hill-star 

 must be a bird which presents many curious features in its economy, if any 

 naturalist could study and write its history, the few notes which have been 

 published about it fully warranting this supposition. Mr. L. Eraser states that 



