238 



THE LITTLE I'LAME-BEAEER. 



The wings are purple brown. The back is go-ld-green, with the exception of a bold bar 

 of pure white, which crosses the back and forms a patch on each flank. The middle of the 

 abdomen is black, the flanks are brown, and the under tail-coverts are greyish white. The 

 upper surface of the tail is blue, the shafts of the middle feathers are white, and the remain- 

 ing feathers are white at their bases and brown for the rest of their length. The under 

 surface of the tail is a bright steel-blue, and the shafts are white throughout their length. 



The female possesses no crest 

 and no elongated tail-feathers, and 

 bears a very curious resemblance 

 to the well-known insect termed 

 the Humming-bird Moth. 



Another curious example of 

 the same genus may be found in 

 CoNVERS' Thorntail, a native of 

 Santa F^ de Bog6ta. 



This species is very beautiful 

 both in shape and colouring, and, 

 as in the case of the preceding 

 bird, the two sexes differ greatly 

 in appearance. In the male of 

 this bird the general colour is 

 green, a white bar running across 

 the lower end of the back, and 

 the tail-feathers being very long, 

 narrow and pointed. Their colour 

 is shining black, the shafts being 

 white. In the female the general 

 colour of the plumage resembles 

 that of the male, except that the 

 3olours are not so brilliant, and the 

 throat is greyish white, covered 

 with brown-green spots. The tail 

 is very short, and is composed of 

 a series of rounded feathers of a 

 dusky hue, and white at the tip. 

 Both the species are swift fliers, 

 and are said to resemble the 

 swallow when on the wing. 



On the extreme left of the 

 engraving on page 223, and about 

 haK-way from the top, the reader 

 may observe a very small Hum- 

 ming-bird, remarkable for its 

 curious spiky tail and rich feathery 

 gorget. This is the Little Flame- 

 bearer (^Seldspliorus scintilla), 

 one of several species which possess the flery tuft of feathers from which they derive their 

 name of Flame-bearers. 



This species inhabits the inner side of the extinct volcano Chiriqui, in Veragua, at an 

 elevation of nine thousand feet above the level of the sea. It is a tiny bird, measuring 

 only two and a half inches in length, and as it darts about the singular habitation in 

 which it lives, its fiery gorget gleams with such a flaming crimson, that, as Mr. Gould 

 happily remarks, it seems to have caught the last spark from the volcano before it was 

 extincfuished. 



CONVERS' THORNTAIL.— Gou^dia Conversi. 

 Male and Female. 



