DOCIMASTES ENSIFERUS. 



Sword-bill. 



Ornismya ensifera, Boiss. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 354. — Mag. cie Zool. 1840, Ois.pl. 15.— Lodd 



in Proc. of Zool. Soc 3 Part XI. 1843, p. 122. 

 Trochilus Derbianus, Fras. in Proc. of Zool. Soc, Part VIII. 1840, p. 16. 

 Mellisuga ensifera, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, Mellisaga, sp. 1. 



This is another of the new and very remarkable species that have rewarded the researches of modern 

 naturalists in the magnificent region of Santa Fe de Bogota, where most of the specimens sent to Europe 

 have been procured ; it appears, however, to possess a wide range, for I have heard of its being observed in 

 the Caraccas, and my friend Sir William Jardine, Bart., has lately received from Mr. Jameson an example 

 obtained in the shrubby region on Pichincha in Quito, at an elevation of from 11,000 to 12,000 feet above 

 the sea. 



Mr. Hartweg, the celebrated botanical traveller, informs me that he has seen this bird in a state of 

 nature, and that he frequently saw it engaged in procuring its insect food from the lengthened corollas of 

 the Brugmamice^ for exploring which its lengthened bill is so admirably fitted ; affording another instance 

 of the wonderful adaptation of structure to a given purpose so frequently observable in every department 

 of Nature's works. 



The male has all the upper surface and the wing-coverts bronzy green, assuming a coppery hue on the 

 head ; behind the eye a spot of white ; throat blackish brown ; on either side of the throat a broad crescentic 

 band of shining emerald green; under surface bronzy green ; under tail-coverts bronzy green, fading into 

 white on the edges of the feathers ; wings purplish brown ; tail dark brown with a bronzy lustre ; bill 

 blackish brown ; feet yellowish brown. 



Total length, 8f inches; bill, 4 ; wing, 3; tail, 2|; tarsus, \. 



The female has the upper surface as in the male, except that a few white feathers appear on the lower 

 part of the back; a line of white is also perceptible behind the eye; wings purplish brown ; tail olive- 

 green ; throat brown, each feather margined with gray; under surface bronzy green, mottled with brown, 

 and an indication of the bright bands on either side of the throat. 



Total length, 6i inches ; bill, 3; wing, 3 ; tail, 2^; tarsus, 1. 



The upper surface of the young male is of a more coppery hue than that of the adult; the throat is 

 mottled brown and white, produced by each feather having an oblong spot of brown at the tip; on either 

 side of the throat a band of lustrous green with bronzy reflexions, amidst which the white bases of the 

 feathers here and there appear ; under surface coppery green, interrupted in like manner by the white 

 bases of the feathers ; under tail-coverts green, slightly margined with white. 



Much variation is found in the length of the bill in different individuals ; I have remarked too that the 

 young males of the year have longer bills than the adults; one of the former in my own collection measures 

 four inches and three-eighths from the gape to the tip. 



The figures represent an adult male and female, and a young male, all of the natural size, on the Scarlet 

 Trumpet Flower (Brugmansia sanguined). 



