INTRODUCTION. li 



bill ; tail slightly rounded, the feathers broad ; tarsi clothed 5 hind toe shorter than the middle one ; head and Ireast 

 luminous. 



Female. — Unadorned. 



This genus comprises two species, both of which are natives of Central America, Mexico, and Southern Cali- 

 fornia; they are somewhat diminutive in size, and possess the white mark behind the eye which occurs in most of 

 the members of the genera of this section of the Trochilidse. 



73. Heliop^dica melanotis - . Vol. II. PL 64. 



Trochilus leucocrotaphicSj Shaw (Cabanis). 



cuculligevy Licht. Preis-Verz. Mex. Thier. v. Deppe & Schiede (Sept. 1830), no. 29, 31. 



Trochilus kucotisy Jard. Nat. Lib. Humming- Birds, vol. ii. p. 144. 



Hylocharis leucotis. Gray & Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i, p. 114, Hylocharis, sp. 28. 



Heliopedica melanotis, Sclat. & Salv. Ibis, vol. i. p. 130. 



Basilinna leucotis, Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. Theil iii. p. 45. 



Trochilus lucidus, Shaw ? Gen. Zool. vol. viii. p. 327. 



Mellisuga lucida^ Steph. Cont. of Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. xiv. p. 247. 



Sapphironia lucida, Salle, Liste des Oiseaux; Sclat. Proc. Zool. Soc. part xxvi. p. 297, and part xxvii. p. 386. 



Hahitat. Guatemala and Mexico. 



I observe that specimens from Guatemala are much smaller than those from Mexico ; but as the colouring and 

 disposition of the markings are precisely similar, I regard them as races only. 



M. Salle, in his 'List of the Birds of Mexico,' has assigned to one of them the name of lucidus of Shaw, behev- 

 ins it to be an earlier name for this bird than melanotis or ArsennL This list has been followed by Dr. Sclater in 

 his papers on the birds received by M. Salle from and collected by M. Boucard in Oaxaca; but as Shaw's descrip- 

 tion of lucidus, as well as the country in which it is said to be found (Paraguay), does not accord with that of 

 melanotis^ that name must sink into a synonym. 



" In some of the open savannahs scattered among the oak-forests of the Volcan de Fuego near Calderas, this 

 species is not uncommon ; I have also frequently met with it in some of the ' barrancos ' of the same volcano. The 

 white mark running from the eye and the deep coral-red of the bill show conspicuously in the living bird. It is a 

 very shy species. A single specimen was shot near Coban, and another was brought to me from the mountains of 

 S. Cruz, near San Geronimo." — Salvin in Ibis, vol. ii. p. 271. 



74. Heliopedica Xantusi . Vol. II. PI. 65. 



Habitat. Southern California. 



If I have extolled the members of the genus Cometes as being among the most gorgeous birds in existence with 

 regard to the colouring of their tails, in like manner I may pronounce the Topaz<je^ which now claim our notice, to 

 be as remarkable for their lustrous throat-marks. 



One of these beautiful birds, the Topaza Pella, is an- inhabitant of Cayenne and the adjacent countries ; while 

 another, the T Pj/ra, flies in the forests of the Upper Rio Negro. 



Genus Topaza, G, R. Gray, 



75. ToPAZA Pella Vol. II. PL 66. 



Trochilus paradiseus, Linn. Syst. Nat. tom. i. p. 189. 



Lampornis pella, Jard. Nat. Lib. Humming-Birds, vol. ii. p. 155. 



Habitat. Cayenne and the adjacent countries. 



I find that specimens from Demerara have more richly-coloured throat-marks than those procured in Cayenne; 

 there is also another variety distinguished by the great breadth of their lengthened tail-feathers ; but these differ- 

 ences are not of specific importance. 



76. Topaza Pyra . . . - . . . Vol. II. PI. 67. 



Habitat. The Upper Rio Negro. 



It is only at a comparatively recent date that we became acquainted with the birds for which I proposed the 



