GLAUCIS MELANURA, Gould. 



Black-tailed Hermit. 



Glaucis melanura, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xxviii. p, 304. 



The bird figured in the accompanying Plate must not be confounded with either of the species I have men- 

 tioned in my account of Glaum hirsutiis ; it is much smaller than either of them, and moreover has a far 

 greater amount of black colouring in its tail — the extreme base, and that only of the inner webs of the 

 feathers, being marked with chestnut; in fact, when the tail is closed and viewed from beneath, it appears to 

 be entirely black, the under coverts concealing the buff colouring at its base. 



I possess two specimens of this bird, one of which was received from the Napo, the other, a very fine 

 one, from the Rio Negro, 



Centre of the throat, chest, and under surface buff; a streak of dark brown passes downwards from the 

 base of the lower mandible, between which and the ear-coverts is a stripe of buflf; there is also a line of 

 buflf behind the eye ; crown of the head brown ; back of the neck, upper surface, and two middle tail-feathers 

 golden-green ; upper tail-coverts narrowly edged with grey ; basal portion of the inner webs and the shafts 

 of the four lateral tall-feathers rich reddish-buff approaching to chestnut, the remainder of these feathers 

 being black, tipped with white ; bill black, except the under base of the mandible, which is yellow. 



The figures in the accompanying Plate are as near the size of life as possible. The plant is the Sipho- 

 campylus Orbigniamis, 



