690 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. [^ V. 



1879. [SCLATER, P. L., and Salvin, 0.] Elliot's Classiiicatiou of the Trocliilidie 

 </6ts, 4tli ser., iii, Oct., 1879, pp. 479, 480. 

 Notice of the work. 



ADDENDUM TO TEOCHILID^. 



Trochilidine literature is extensive, and most of it is " special "-that is, represented by books and 

 papers exclusively devoted to this gxoup of birds. Hummers are very peculiar birds, and their study 

 may almost be said to form a particular department of ornithology-iu fact, the word ■ ' Trochilidist '■ 

 has been corned to designate those who pay special attention to this branch of the science- and there 

 are few ornithologists who, however great their general acquirements, can be considered experts m' this 

 Tl^- ,^'*^'lj^r°! ^'^^^^i'^lj^g^-'^Pl^y' con.seciuently, permits an exceptionally complete exposition 

 of Trochilidme literature, certam points which appear upon consideration of the whole subiect may 

 not improperly be here noted, as preliminary to the list of the geneva of Hummingbirds wiih which 

 this Addendum concludes. 



Hummers were of course unknown to the ancients, whose Tpri^ao. or IrocIMas is believed to have 

 been one of the Plovers iOharadriidce). Misled by the false analogy of small size, slender biU and 

 gbttering plumage, some comparatively modern authors Imve confounded these exclusively Americau 

 birds with certam Old ™d forms, as the 0,^^ria<. for instance. But as a rule the Tro!l£^^ 

 been recognized as one ot the most perfectly circumscribed .roups in ornithology. The literature of 

 the subject dates back to the "heroic age'; the first mention of any bird of thislamily is said to have 

 been made m 1558, and can scarcely have been earlier. Scattered notices of such bi'rds appeared in 

 various works relating to America during the remainder of the x^-i. and the whole of the xvii. century 

 !ldeft """' !?*.7*;\t°^''^'^^ ^^^ ^1««^ °f the latter that special papers upon the subject appeared; th^ 

 oldest one Vhich I have seen datmg 1693, when Hamersly'' described the "Americau Tomineiu" in 

 t^ePMlos. Trans The xviii. century gave us almost nothing of this kind; but notices multiplied in 

 various historical, geographical, and narrative works relating to America; while during the latter half 

 of this century-that is to say, in the Linn;Ban period-several formal accounts of Irochilidce formed a 

 part of the systematic treatises on ornithology ; notably, those of Linnaeus, Brisson, Buffon, Gmelin and 

 Latham; but the sum is smaU, and the substance meagre, of all that was learned of the birds prior to 



In 1758, when Linnaeus applied his system consistently to bir.ls, in the x. ert. of the Synt Nat he 

 used the classic ^ov,\ Trochilus for a genus coextensive with the mo.lern family TrocMudce, and cata- 

 logued 18 species, mostly based upon descriptions or figures fuinish.-d by Seba, Brown, Sloane, Catesby 

 Edwards, Clusius, and Albin ; with references also to the Mus. Ad. Fr. In the xii. ed., 1760 this number 

 Brisson'*''"''^ ^° '^' '''"'' "''"^'' ''"^'^'*'°''*''^ references, as to Marcgvave, Willughby, Ray, and especially 



In 1760, the last-named famous ornithologist gave us what may be deemed the first extended or in 

 any sense monographic - account of TrocMlida^. Studiously collating the already numerous notices 

 scattered through works ot the character I have mentioned, as well as througli the illustrated and ' 

 other natural history treatises of his predecessors in ornithology, he was enabled to describe with his 

 customary elaboration no fewer than .36 species, and to present a copious bibliography. He also made 

 the first tenable genera ot Hummers after Trochilus, dividing the whole family into two groups Polyt- 

 mus and Melhsuga-oneconUinu^s large species with curved bills, the other small species with straight 

 bdls. Jn this action of Brisson's we see the origin of the curious fashion which so long endured 



Jr^allTotlT V T^''""^^^^^^ 



leVJtlftn r 1 1 f f arting-point of a generic subdivision of the group which was^lestined at 



length to reach the farcical and scandalous extreme of some 350 genera for few more than 400 known 



SpGClGS. 



• snec,-r!V^,"^T "^"'''"'^ f o'.'""^' *^' •^'''^^^'"'^^ ^^ "C^"^"--' " ^'^'^ -Oiseaux-mouches,^' presenting 19 

 spec es of he former, and 24 of the latter group; a total of 43 Trochmd<^. If we except the mere 

 TeZ^LTt ^^';^.''"^'"S '.f some additional species by Gmelin and Latham, nearly all that had been 

 Fr'nch authors ' "'' '''" '""' ''"*"'^ ^'' '■'^''*'" ^" '''' "'^^^ "' '''''' ^^^^ ^^^^^^^ 



In 1788 the industrious but indiscriminate and incompetent compiler of tlie xiii. ed. of the Syst Nat 

 produced a total of 65 species of TroeMlus. None were described except at second-hand buUm^^ 



in sr r ^orLTtw '^" ^'^^^'- '^° ''-- '''--' ^^ ^^-^- ^^ '-^^^ — -^-^ 



t^lZil^ZT^"^'^ ""^T ^*^\P.i°S-stones, of but few works requiring special mention here, to 

 the opening of the xix. century, which saw Audebert and VieiUot's luxurious worlc Ois Dores- 

 ^^^^^:7T^'^^f' ™ undertook to reproduce metallic reflection; of plifmaTe'. 

 Tie feathery Ins of these exquisite creatures is always fascinating, and there are no more favorable 

 .sulyect^ghttenn^^ ^ ^^^^,^„^.^p^ of re Hummers! 



.1? V^'F^^ *'"^'' ^""^ ""^^ ""^ oversight, this paper stai^iT^c^^di^T^^TGrew. WmthroD's 

 earlier (1671) paper m the same Trans, does not relate exclusively to the Hummingbird 

 , The viii. vol., 1812, of Shaw's Gen. ZooL, gave 70 species of TrocMkis. 



