HELIOTHRIX PHAINOL^MA, Gould. 



Green-throated Fairy* 



Heliothrix phmnoltema, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xxiii. p. 87. 



This is one of the most beautiful, and certainly the rarest species of the genus Heliothrw, a group 

 distinguished by the wedge-shaped form of their bill, their lengthened wings, small feet, and delicate style 

 of colouring. Its nearest ally is the H. auricuiatus, from which, however, it is distinguished by the whole 

 of the throat being of a resplendent metallic green. The localities inhabited by the two birds are widely 

 different, the H. auriculatus being found in Southern Brazil, while the H. phdinolcema frequents the distant 

 country of the Upper Rio Negro, the district in which the splendid Topaza pyra is also found, together with 

 many other fine species of which at present but little is known, owing to the difficulty of access to this terra 

 incognita. 



The male has the head, upper surface, upper tail-coverts, upper and under wing-coverts rich golden 

 green, very brilliant on the head; wings purplish black; four central tail-feathers bluish black; lateral tail- 

 feathers snowy white; below and behind the eye a lengthened mark of black, terminating in a violet-blue 

 tuft ; chin, throat, and sides of the neck rich luminous green ; breast and under surface pure white ; bill 

 black ; feet flesh-colour. 



The female is very similar, but wants the blue ear-tufts and green neck-stripe, the absence of which 

 causes the black ear-coverts to show very conspicuously ; a purplish band crosses the lateral tail-feathers 

 near their base. 



The figures are of the natural size. The plant is a variety of the Tillandsia bulbosa* 



