OREOTROCHILUS LEUCOPLEURUS, Gonid. 



White -sided Hill-star. 



Oreotrochilus leucopleurus, Gould in Proc. of Zool Soc, Part XV. 1847, p. 10. — Gray and 

 Mitch. Gen. of Birds, Oreotrochilus, sp. 2. 



Hitherto this species has only been found in Chili, where it inhabits the sheltered valleys among the Andes, 

 just below the line of perpetual congelation, and where it takes the place in those more southern regions of 

 the Oreotrochilus Estellcs of Bolivia. Mr. Bridges, from whom I have received numerous specimens, pro- 

 cured on the Andes of Aconcagua, states that the bird was not uncommon near the Ojos de Agua, on the 

 road towards Mendoza, at an elevation of 10,000 feet. 



It is a smaller bird in all its admeasurements than Oreotrochilus Estellce, and may be distinguished from 

 that species by the bluish black mark down the centre of the abdomen ; the outer tail-feathers also differ 

 in being narrower, more rigid, and of a more incurved form ; in other respects the two birds are very 

 similar. I have some specimens with the feathers of the throat of a dull brown tipped with blue, and 

 the abdomen clouded with dull greyish brown, while the black mark on the centre of the abdomen is as 

 conspicuous as in the adult ; in all probability these are young males of the year. In the Loddigesian 

 collection there are fine examples of this bird, as well as a beautiful nest, brought direct from Chili by the 

 late Dr. Miller : I have been kindly permitted to figure this nest, which appears to have been attached by 

 means of cobwebs to the side of a rock or a large stone; it is larger in proportion to the size of the bird 

 than is usually the case among the Trochilidce, and is a dense and warm structure composed of moss, fine 

 vegetable substances and feathers. 



The male has the head, all the upper surface and wings greyish olive-brown, passing into dull coppery 

 green on the upper tail-coverts ; two centre tail-feathers and the outer one on each side, which has an inward 

 curvature, green with bronze reflexions, the remainder narrowly edged on the external webs with brown ; 

 throat rich luminous grass-green, bounded below with a crescentic band of deep velvety black with blue 

 reflexions ; flanks olive-brown ; breast and sides of the abdomen white ; down the centre of the abdomen 

 a mark of black with steel-blue reflexions ; under tail-coverts olive ; tarsi clothed with brown feathers ; 

 bill and feet brownish black ; irides blackish brown. 



Total length, 5 inches; bill, I^V; wing, 2f ; tail, 2^ ; tarsus, -jV- 



The female has the upper surface the same as the male, the two centre tail-feathers brownish green, the 

 remainder white, with a band of green across the centre ; the outer feather on each side, which is much 

 shorter than the rest, and not so pointed nor so inwardly curved as in the male, is of a browner hue ; throat 

 white, spangled with spots of brown obscurely tinted with blue ; chest and abdomen white, the brown pre- 

 dominatingr on the flanks. 



Total length, 4i inches ; bill, i ; wing, 2f ; tail, 2 ; tarsus, iV. 



The figures represent two adult males, a young male, a female, and a nest, all of the natural size. 



