figure of it in his great work on the '' Birds of North America," taken from a specimen said to have 

 been killed in Florida ; but I have never yet received examples of the bird from any locality approxi- 

 mating to the northern regions of America, nor from any district to the northward of Costa Rica : 

 on the other hand, it is very generally dispersed over the southern continent for many degrees of latitude 

 along the Andes. I possess examples from Bogota, Guayaquil, Peru, the Caraccas, the Guianas, the Delta 

 of the Amazon, and all parts of Brazil, as fixr south as the latitude of Rio de Janeiro, in all of which 

 countries it is to be found wherever localities suited to its habits occur. Slight differences of colouring are 

 observable in examples from very distant localities, but none of sufficient importance to warrant their being 

 characterized as distinct. The specimens which exhibit the greatest difference are those from Guayaquil, 

 some of those I possess having the black of the throat washed with a somewhat glittering blue. The great 

 variation which occurs between the colouring of the sexes and the youthful birds at different ages has occa- 

 sioned an amount of confusion with regard to the synonymy of this species, which it is almost impossible to 

 unravel, and in the investigation of which I have received much valuable assistance from M. Bourcier, of 

 Paris, who has kindly sent me a list of all the synonyms which, in his opinion, are I'cferable to this species, 

 and which, with a few others, are given above. I am also indebted to this gentleman for the following 

 note respecting the range of the bird, &c. : — 



*' This Humming Bird, though one of the most widely spread members of its family, is only to be met 

 with in hot localities, and wherever it occurs in the interior of a country it is invariably in the very warm 

 valleys. In its disposition it is wild and quarrelsome ; for although it lives in societies, several being always 

 found together, it is continually engaged in fighting with its companions, and in driving away all other birds 

 which approach the tree in which it is breeding. It inhabits Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, New Grenada, 

 La Trinite, Guiana, and Brazil, The adult does not assume its perfect plumage until the end of the 

 second year, and in the interval passes through so many changes of plumage, that the variety of appearance 

 it presents has given rise to the various names under which the bird has been described. 



" I have obtained examples of this species in the province of Manabi, and have killed many in the vicinity 

 of Guayaquil during the rainy season, when I always found there were four or five young birds for every 

 old one. Although this species occurs in such distant localities, there is no great variation in the plumage 

 of the adults. Those obtained in Bolivia are a trifle the largest, and have the bands of green and blue at 

 the sides of the neck a little less brilliant ; in fact, the hotter the climate in which the bird dwells, the more 

 brilliant is its general appearance ; the black of the throat is more intense, the green of the back and rump 

 is finer, and the violet of the tail more lustrous. Its flight is very rapid." 



Mr, Reeves informs me that in Brazil the Lampornis Mango is to be found in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Geraes, 

 St. Paul's, Santa Catharina, and Para ; that it frequents the gardens as well as the forests, and is very 

 common at Rio in some seasons, and equally scarce at others. 



The nest is a round cup-shaped structure, placed near the extremity of a small horizontal branch, and is 

 composed of cottony or any similar materials that may be at hand, bound together with cobwebs and orna- 

 mented with numerous small pieces of lichens : the eggs as usual are white and two in number, somewhat 

 more than half an inch long, by three-eighths of an inch in breadth. 



The adult male has the head, all the upper surface, wing- and tail-coverts, and flanks golden or coppery 

 green; wings purplish brown; two centre tail-feathers bronzy green; lateral tail-feathers chestnut with 

 violet reflexions, and narrowly margined with dark steel-blue ; under surface velvety black, separated from 

 the golden green of the upper surface by a band of shining blue, which extends from the corner of the 

 mouth down each side of the neck and breast ; under tail-coverts violet-brown in some specimens, glossy 

 green in others ; bill and feet black. 



The female has the head, upper surface, wing- and tail-coverts, and flanks as in the male ; breast and 

 abdomen white, with a broad stripe of black down the centre of the throat, and a similar mark down the 

 centre of the abdomen ; in some specimens these marks unite, and form a broad black mark down the 

 middle of the under surface; under tail-coverts green fringed with grey; two centre tail-feathers bronzy 

 green ; the next on each side bronzy green, deepening into black at the extremity and slightly fringed with 

 white at the tip ; the next on each side similar, but with an obscure mark of chestnut between the green 

 and the black ; the two outer feathers bronzy green at the base, then chestnut with violet reflexions, black 

 towards the extremity and slightly tipped with white. 



The young male is similar to the female, but has the white on each side the neck suff^used with chestnut. 



At a very young age the upper surftice is bronzy green ; the under surface white, spotted down the sides 

 of the neck and body with chestnut-red, the spots being arranged in a double line from the angle of the 

 lower mandible, and leaving a line of white running between them and the eye. 



The Plate represents a male, a female, a young bird, and a nest, all of the natural size. The plant is the 

 Solanum fragrans. 



