244. 



MAES SUN-ANGEL. 



SiCKXE-BiLL is a very rare bird, and is found sparingly in Bogota and Veragiia. The 

 plumage is not ver}^ brilliant in its hues, but the various tints with which it is coloured 

 are pleasing in their arrangement, and give to the bird a very pretty aspect. 



The crown of its head and the little crest are blackish brown, and each feather has 

 one small spot of buff on its tip. The upper parts of the body are of a dark shining green, 

 with a slight buify wash, and on the tips of several of the secondaries tliere is a little white 



spot. The two central feathers of 

 the tail are a dark glossy green 

 with small white tips, and the 

 others are of the same hue in 

 their outer webs, greenish brown 

 on the inner, and largely tipped 

 with white. The under surface is 

 brownish black, diversified with 

 some dark buff streaks upon the 

 throat and breast, and with white 

 streaks upon the abdomen and 

 flanks ; the under tail-coverts are 

 brown fringed with buff. The total 

 length of the bird is about four 

 and a half inches. 



Another species belonging to 

 the same genus, Condamine's 

 Sickle-bill (Eutoxeres Conda- 

 mini), is remarkable for its pro- 

 pensity to inhabit high ground. 

 It is a very rare bird, and when- 

 ever it is discovered, it is seen 

 feeding among the orchidaceous 

 plants, at an elevation of ten 

 thousand feet above the level of 

 the sea. 



The little group of Humming- 

 birds called the Sun-angels are 

 all remarkable for the exceeding 

 lustre of the feathers which de- 

 corate their throats, and the 

 general beauty of their plumage. 

 In nearly every species there is 

 a white or buff crescentic mark 

 immediately below the gorget, and 

 they are aU inhabitants of the 

 Andes. Concerning the Maes 

 Sun-angel and its habits Mr. 

 Gould speaks in the following 

 words : — 

 " Of all the species of the Andean Humming-birds belonging to the genus Heliangelos, 

 I regard this as the most beautiful and interesting ; it has all the charms of novelty to 

 recommend it, and it stands alone, too, among its congeners, no other member of the genus 

 similarly coloured having been- discovered up to the present time. The throat vies with 

 the radiant topaz, while the band on the forehead rivals in brilliancy the frontlet of every 

 other species. . . . The country in which this rare bird flies is the elevated region of 

 Northern Columbia, particularly the flat Paramos of Portachuela and Zambador, where 

 Messrs. Funck and Schlim found it, at an elevation of from seven thousand to nine 



MARS SUN-ANGEL. — Helidngelus Mavors. 



