PHAETHORNIS YARUQUI. 



Yaruquian Hermit. 



TrocMhis Yaniqui, Boiirc, Compte Rendu de TAcad. des Sci., torn, xxxii. p. 187 



This fine new speeies of Phaethornu is a native of the temperate regions of Ecuador, whence several ex- 

 amples were brought to Europe by M. Bourcler ; and my own collection has been enriched by some fine 

 specimens transmitted to me from Quito by Professor Jameson. It appears to be very common in the 

 neighbourhood of the city, and particularly in the valley of Yaruqui, in which the French Academicians in 

 1742 placed the point from whence they measured an arc of the meridian, and where it dwells amidst the 

 small bushes skirting the forest, but appeal's to give a preference to the shady parts of the woods bordering 

 the warmer plains, where it seeks its insect food among the Orchids and other flowering plants growing in 

 such situations. Its flight is described as being gentle, and its disposition as very tame. Its broad and 

 nearly uniform steel-black tail at once distinguishes it from Phaethomh Guy, to which it is nearly allied. 

 Like that bird, it is subject to considerable variation in the form of the tail, that organ being much more 

 lengthened in some instances than in others ; the longer tailed specimens also have the lateral feathers 

 fringed, and the two central ones extensively tipped with white. That the birds in this state are immature, 

 is shown by the brown crescentlc marks on the feathers of the back of the head and upper surface, which 

 are entirely absent in those having the shorter and more rounded form of tall, with the lateral feathers of 

 a uniform colour. The central tail-feathers are always broader and much more obtusely pointed than 

 those of P. Guy. In some specimens we find a deep rufous mark, commencing above and behind the eye 

 to the nape ; a second fainter line from the gape down the side of the neck, and a third occupying tne 

 centre of the throat, as in P. Guy \ but these marks do not occur in very old birds. 



Head bronzy brown ; upper and under surface and wing-coverts shining green ; wings dark purplish 

 black ; upper tail-coverts green, with a crescent of black, and another of white at the tip ; tall bluish black ; 

 the two central feathers tipped with white, and the next on each side with a small speck of white at the 

 tip ; under tail-coverts white, with a streak of black near the tip of each feather ; upper and point of the 

 lower mandible black ; basal two-thirds of the lower mandible fleshy red ; feet yellowish brown. 



In the immature state, the colouring of the upper surface is interrupted by crescentlc marks of brown ; 

 the central tail-feathers are more largely tipped, and the lateral ones are fringed at their ends with white ; 

 there is a deep buflfy mark above, and a paler one beneath the eye, and a small mark of white on the chin. 



The figures are of the natural size, on the Macleama angulata. 



