c INTRODUCTION. 



as my experience enables me. To do this effectively it will be necessary to replace some of the species in the 

 genera from which they have been separated, and to propose a further subdivision of the remainder. In so doino- 

 it must not be understood that I am desirous of increasing the number of genera ; I merely wish to indicate by a 

 distinctive appellation the sections into which the birds appear to be naturally divided. To particularize the pro- 

 vinces of South America over which the members of the various genera are distributed would be useless ; for their 

 dispersion may be said to be general, as they are found from Mexico to Bolivia on the western coast, and from 

 Brazil to Venezuela on the eastern; few of the species, however, go very far either north or south, and still fewer 

 are found in the West India Islands. The members of the genus Amazilia, as restricted, are all of somewhat large 

 size, and are easily recognized, each of them having well-marked characters. There is but little difference in the 

 outward appearance of the sexes. The equatorial regions of the Andes are their head-quarters ; and it is there 

 that we find the A. pristina^ the A, alticola^ the A, Dumerili, and the A. kucophcea. These four species, I consider 



form a very natural section. 



Genus Amazilia, Reichenh. 



338. Amazilia pristina ............. Vol. V. PI. 303. 



Phaethornis Amazil% Jard. Nat. Lib. Humming-Birds, vol. ii. p. 152. 

 Pyrrhophaena Amazilia, Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. Theil iii. p. 35. 

 Habitat. The nei2:hbourhood of Lima in Peru. 



339. Amazilia alticola, Gould ............ Vol. V. PI 304 



Habitat. The high lands of Central Peru; the precise locality uncertain. 



340. Amazilia Dumerili ............. Vol V PI 305 



Pyrrhophaena Dumerili^ Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. Theil iii. p 36. note. 



Habitat. Ecuador, on the coast in the neighbourhood of Guayaquil, and on the Isle of Puna. Found also at 

 Babahoyo by Mr. Fraser, who states that the bill is red with a black tip. 



341. Amazilia leucoph^a, Reichenb y^j y pi on^ 



Pyrrhophaena leucophaea, Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. Theil iii p. 35. 



Habitat. Southern Peru. Collected in the vicinity of the Volcano of Arequipa by M. Warszewicz. 



I retain Dr. Cabanis's generic term Pyrrhophena for the ten succeeding species :— 



Genus Pyrrhophaena, Cab. 



342. Pyrrhoph^na cinnamomea. 



Amaziha corallirostris ........... y^i y pi ony 



Ornismya cinnamomea, Less. Rev. Zool. 1842, p. 175, 



Ornismya rutila, Delatt. L'Echo du Monde Savant, No. 45, Juin 15, 1843, col. 1069. 



Pyrrhophaena corallirostris, Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. Theil iii. p. 35, note. 



Habitat. Central America. 



- This species," says Mr. Salvin, " seems to be an inhabitant of the hot sea-bord only, and does not extend its 

 vertical range to a greater elevation than 2000 feet. In such regions on the Pacific coast it is very abundant, and 

 is, in fact, the commonest of the family-in some parts almost swarming. In every village numbers may be'seen 

 flitting about the blossoms of the orange and hme trees. Its horizontal range appears to be extensive, and may be 

 said to include the whole of the southern portion of Guatemala, from the confines of Chiapas to the State of San 

 Salvador, and probably also embraces the Balsam Coast of that repubhc, as Captain Taylor obtained examples on 

 Tigre Island in the Bay of Fonseca.''— Ibis, vol. i. p. 130. 



" It is common about San Geronimo ; but seems not to be found in the colder and more elevated portions of 

 the republic, neither occurring at Duenas nor Coban. A nest with two young and the hen bird was brought to me 

 Dec. 6th ; the young were half-grown, and would have flown in about ten days. My specimens show that, as far 

 as the feathers are concerned, the sexes are alike. A difference, however, exists in the bill,— that of the male having 

 much more of the brilHant colour from which the species takes its name, in the upper mandible. In the young bird 

 the upper mandible is black." — Ibis, vol. ii. pp. 268, 269. 



343. Pyrrhoph^na Yucatanensis. 



Amazilia Yucatanensis •••-.-.... yol V PI S08 



Habitat, Y'ucatan. 



