CCELIGENA WILSONI. 



Wilson's Cceligene. 



Trockilus Wilsoni, De Latt. et Bourc. Rev. ZooL 1846, p. 305. 



Mellisuga Wilsoni, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 112, Mellisnga, sp, 13. 



Bourcieria Wilsoni, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 73, Bourcieria, sp. 4. — lb. Rev. et Mag. de Zool 



1854, p. 252.— Reichenb. Troch. emimer., p. 7. pi. dccli. figs. 4723, 4724. 

 Lampropygia Wilsoni, Reichenb. Aufz. der Colibris, p. 10. 



I have little to communicate respecting the bird here figured; it is certainly quite distinct from every other 

 with which we are acquainted, but I doubt not that I have placed it in that genus to which it truly 

 belongs, namely, Cceligena\ for, upon comparing it with the well-known species, C. typiea and C. purpurea, 

 no structural differences whatever are observable ; and the distribution of th£ colouring is very similar, the 

 only exception being that the throat of this species is luminous ; the three birds are in fact intimately allied, 

 and, with the Prunelli, appear to me to constitute a natural group, which does not admit of or require 

 separation ; one very peculiar character — the lustrous fringing of the feathers of the back and rump — being 

 common to the whole of them, and not observable in any others of the Trochilidae yet discovered. 



The Cceligena Wilsoni has been named in honour of Edward Wilson, Esq., of Tenby in Pembrokeshire, 

 a gentleman who, although not himself a professed ornithologist, has contributed both largely and liberally 

 towards the promotion of that branch of science. The native country of the bird is Ecuador, whence it 

 extends northward to the latitude of Bogota, and southward to the confines of Peru. But little difference 

 will, I believe, be found in the colouring of the sexes ; the female as well as the male, in all the specimens 

 I have seen, possesses the purple colouring of the throat, but in no instance to so great an extent as in 

 the latter sex. 



M. Bourcier states, that in the neighbourhood of Quito it inhabits the sheltered valleys of the Andes, at 

 an elevation of ten thousand feet, and that he has killed numerous specimens in the valley of Nono, to the 

 north of Quito. 



Head and all the upper surface bronzy brown, changing to bronzy green on the wing-coverts and back, 

 the green of the back being most apparent when viewed from behind ; upper tail-coverts bronzy brown ; 

 wings purplish brown ; tail bronze, changing to green towards the margin of the feathers, and narrowly edged 

 with dark brown ; chin and ear-coverts dark brown ; throat fine purple, bounded on the sides and below by 

 a narrow band of brownish black ; on each side the neck a patch of greyish white ; under surface obscure 

 brownish grey washed with bronze ; under tail-coverts reddish brown ; bill black ; feet brown. 



The Plate represents the two sexes of the size of life. The plant is the Trkhopilia suavis. 



