INTRODUCTION. Ixxv 



Aglaiactis Castelnaudi, Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. Theil iii. p. 69^ note. 



Ormsmya castelnaudiiy Dev. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1852, p. 216. 



Habitat. The mountains near Cusco in Peru. 



M. Deville says, "This bird, which is very rare, confines itself to the blossoms of a species of Mimosa, the 

 odours of which attract the small insects which form its food. Its cry is very piercing ; its flight very rapid and 

 noisy. The species, which is quite new, was killed by myself in the valley of Echarate, near Cusco." 



205. Agl^actis Pamela Vol. Ill, PI. 181. 



Aglaiactis Pamelae, Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. Theil iii. p. 69. 

 Habitat, Bolivia. 



Distinct from every other genus are the two species of Oxypogon. These bearded birds stand quite alone 

 among the Trochilidee ; and although not remarkable for brilliancy of colour, their fantastic markings, towering 

 crests, and lengthened beards render them very conspicuous objects. I shall not be surprised if other species of 

 this form be discovered when the higher peaks of the great Andean range of mountains have been more closely 

 examined. 



For a long time the Oxypogon Guerini was the only species known; but in the year 1842 the intrepid traveller 

 Mons. J. Linden ascended the high mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Merida, and was rewarded by the discovery 

 of the second species, which bears his name. 



Genus Oxypogon, Gould. 



('O^vs*, acutus, et irwywv, barba.) 

 Generic characters, 



Male. — Bill shorter than the head, feeble, and straight ; face both above and below ornamented with leno-thened- 

 plumes, the former erect, the latter pendent ; wings rather long ; tail large and forked when closed ; tarsi bare • 

 feet large and strong ; hind toe and nail longer than the middle toe and nail. 



Female, — -Smaller, and destitute of the ornamental face-plumes. 



206. Oxypogon Guerini Vol. III. PL 182. 



Oxypogon Guerini, Reichenb. Aufz. der Col.p. 12; Id.Troch. Enum. p.lO; Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. Theil iii. p. 67. 

 Habitat. New Granada ; plentiful around Bogota. 



207. Oxypogon Lindeni ............. Vol. III. PL 183. 



Oxypogon Lindeni, Reichenb. Aufz. der Col. p. 12 ; Id. Troch. Enum. p. 10 ; Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. Theil iii. 



p. 67, note. 



Habitat. The Sierra Nevada de Merida in New Granada. 



"This bird," says M. Linden, "inhabits the regions immediately beneath the line of perpetual cono*elation, 

 and never at a less elevation than 9000 feet." It might be thought that such bleak and inclement situations were 

 ill adapted for so dehcate a structure as that of the Humming-Bird ; but there, and there only, does it dwell, while 

 the equally lofty Paramos of Bogota are the native locality of the aUied species O. Guerini. The minute insects 

 which frequent the alpine flora of these districts afi'ord abundance of food to these birds ; and beautifully constructed 

 are their little bills for searching among the flowers in which they are found. 



Near the members of the genus Oxypogon are the various species of Ramphomicron, another bearded group, but 

 differing in the total absence of any lengthened plumes on the crown, and in the structure and colour of the pendent 

 chin-feathers. It will only be necessary to glance at the plates on which these species are depicted to perceive that, 

 though they bear a general resemblance to the Oxypogons, they are generically distinct from them. Their short and 

 feeble bills indicate that they feed on a similar kind of insect food ; and we know that such flowers as those of Sida 

 and other plants with open corollas are frequently visited for the insects which abound therein. 



It is said that the members of this genus fly with great rapidity, and that, like flashes of light, they are con- 

 stantly dashing about the hill-sides from one flower to another. It must be extremely interesting to watch the 

 aerial movements of these comparatively large birds among the lofty regions they frequent, and where the air is so 

 pure and rarefied. In all the hilly countries, from the Caribbean Sea southward to Bolivia, are the members of this 

 genus to be obtained; in the neighbourhood of Bogota one of them is very common : this bird (the R. heteropogon) 

 extends its range from thence to about the latitude of Popayan, while the little /Z. microrhynchmn is equally abundant 



