Hah. in provinciis occidentalibus et centralilDus Americte septentrionalis, in America ccntrali liibernans. 



Adult male. General colour above dark green with a slight bronzy shade, becoming rather more bluish 

 green on the rump and mixed with purple on the upper tail-coverts ; on each side of the rump 

 a white patch; scapulars green like the back; wing-coverts black, the lesser and median 

 series tipped with bhiish green ; greater coverts, bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills black, 

 externally glossed with deep indigo ; tail-feathers also black with a bluish gloss ; crown of head 

 bronzy green ; occiput and nape purjsle, with a concealed narrow collar of ashy round the hind 

 neck, caused simply by the grey bases of the feathers ; lores dusky ; feathers over the eye 

 extending down behind the latter, ear-coverts, cheeks, sides of face, and entire under surface of 

 body silky white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries smoky brown with whitish edgings, the 

 coverts near the edge of the wing and the lower greater coverts darker ; quills dusky brown 

 below, rather more ashy on their inner edge : "bill black; feet brownish black; iris brown; 

 mouth pale yellow" {Coues) . Total length 4'5 inches, culmen 0'3, wing 4'3, tail 1"65, 

 tarsus 0"45. 



AdvH female. Not so brilliant in colour as tlie male, and distinguished by the bi'owner colour of the sides 

 of the face and ear-covcrts, the throat having a slight wash of ashy brown ; the bead is also 

 decidedly browner with a brouzy-gieen sliade, but never so brilliant as in the adult male. Total 

 length 4'3 inches, culmen 0'3, wing 4"25, tail Q'Q, tarsus 0'4. 



Adult male in ivinter plumage (Dueiias; O. Salvin). Differs from the breeding-plumage in being entirely 

 bronzy or oil-brown washed with purple. This purple shade is much more strongly pronounced 

 than in summer^ and the remains of it are noticeable in the description of the breeding-dress, 

 where the purple occiput aud hind neck are alluded to as contrasting with the crown. The green 

 and purple shades on the rump and upper tail-coverts are the same in both seasons, and the 

 under surface and facial markings do not differ. 



YoviKj male (Santa Fe Mountains, N.W. Mexico, Aug. 4; H. W. Ilcnshaw). Brown, the entire back 

 with a purplish or greenish gloss (according to the light), which is lacking on the head, lower 

 back, and rump ; on either side of the lower back a white patch ; wings and tail brown, with a 

 faint gloss of steel-green on the former, the inner secondaries edged with ashy at the ends ; 

 sides of face brown, as in the adult female, with a very faint indication of the white above the 

 ear-coverts; cheeks, throat, and under surface of body silky white, with a brownish shade across 

 the fore neck ; gape yellowish. 



The series in the Henshaw collection shows that in the winter the adult birds are distinguished by broad 

 white tips to the inner secondaries, and the violet colour of the rump is very dull and almost 

 obliterated by greenish blue. By April the white edgings to the inner secondaries have become 

 entirely abraded. There is considerable difference in the colour of the back, some specimens 

 being of a beautiful dceji green, whilst others are more oily green ; and in the ' Catalogue of 

 Birds' it was suggested that this might be due to the wearing of the feathers during the breeding- 

 season. An examination of the Henshaw series, however, induces us to modify this opinion, for 

 we find a bird from Pueblo, in Colorado, shot on the 27tli of July, which is bright green on the 

 back, and equals in brilliancy any of the specimens procured in the earlier spring. These more 

 brightly-coloured individuals may therefore be older birds, and the dull-coloured ones be the 

 bii'ds of the previous year. 



