PHAETHORNIS CEPHALUS. 



Mexican Hermit. 



TrocMlus cephalus, Bourc. et Muls. Rev. Zool. 1848, p. 269. — Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, 

 vol. iii. Supp. App. 30 a., App. to vol. i. p. 103. 



longirostris, De Latt. Echo du Monde Savant, June 15, 1843, No. 45. col. 1070? 



Pheetornis cephalus, Bonap. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 249. 

 Ptyotiomis cephalus, Reichenb. Aufz. der Colibris, p. 14. 



The occurrence of this bird in Veragua, Guatemala and Mexico proves that the larger Phaetliorm are not 

 confined to the countries south of the Isthmus, but, like many other forms, are represented in Central 

 America by species peculiar to that part of the continent. 



The Phaethornis cephalus was first brought to this country by M. Salle, the celebrated French traveller 

 and collector ; the single specimen he first procured, and from which M. Bourcier took his description, was 

 for a long time the only one known ; it is now in my own collection. This example bears a label purporting 

 that it was killed by M. Salle on the " Riviere San Juan de Nicaragua ." Besides this original specimen, I 

 possess others which were transmitted to me direct from Guatemala by George U. Skinner, Esq., and have 

 more recently acquired others which were collected by M. Salle near, I believe, Cordova in Southern Mexico. 



I observe that some variation exists in the colouring of the tips of the outer tail-feathers, attributable, I 

 believe, to a difference in the age of the individuals. In the original or typical specimen, the tips of all the 

 tail-feathers, except those of the two middle ones, are of a uniform buff, while in others this huffy colouring 

 occupies only the inner margins of the feathers, the outer margins being white, and in others again both 

 margins are white. In size the P. cephalus nearly equals the P. super ciltosus, but it differs from that species 

 in having a shorter and more curved bill and a shorter and more rounded tail ; the four external feathers 

 on each side being individually less acutely pointed ; the crown of the head in P. cephalus is also darker, the 

 rump-feathers more buffy, and the colouring of the under surface of a lighter or more uniform buff than in 

 P. super ciliosus. 



It has been considered probable by one or two ornithological friends that a bird described by M. De Lattre 

 in the "Echo du Monde Savant" for June 1843, under the name of TrocMlus longirostris, may be identical 

 with the present species, in which case his name would have the priority ; but it could scarcely be retained 

 with propriety, that appellation having been bestowed upon another member of the famdy. 



Head greyish brown ; upper surface and wlng-coverts bronzy brown ; lower part of the back and upper 

 tail-coverts buff, barred with blackish brown ; wings purplish brown ; lores and ear-coverts blackish brown, 

 bounded above and below by stripes of huffy white; under surface light greyish buff; down the centre of 

 the throat a line of pure buff, bounded on either side by a clouding of grey ; all the tall-feathers bronzy 

 green at the base, passing into brownish black, the lateral feathers with an arrow-head-shaped mark of buff at 

 the tip ; the apical or lengthened portion of the two middle feathers white, gradually blending with the dark 

 hue of their middle portion ; upper mandible black ; basal three-fourths of the under mandible fleshy, the 



tip black. 



The figures are the size of life. The plant is the Brassawla lineata. 



