ERIOCNEMIS ISAACSON!. 



Long--billed Puff-leg*. 



Ornysmia Isaacsonii, Parz. Rev. Zool. 1845, p. 95. 



Hylocharis Isaacsoni, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 114, Hylocharis, sp. 9, 



Eriopus isaacsoni, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 80, Eriopus, sp. 9. 



Eriocnemys isaacsoni, Bonap. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 252. 



Phemonoe Isaacsoni, Reichenb. Aufz. der Colibris, p. 9. 



Up to the present time only a single example of this species has reached Europe. The specimen referred to 

 was received by M. Parzudaki of Paris in a large collection of birds from Santa Fe de Bogota, in examining 

 which, it did not escape the discriminating eye of that well-known naturalist. It subsequently passed into 

 the hands of the late Earl of Derby, and now forms part of the great Collection at Liverpool. It received 

 its specific appellation from M. Parzudaki, and I quite agree with him in considering it distinct from every 

 other known member of the genus. Its nearest ally is the E. cuprewentrk^ from which, however, it differs 

 in its much longer bill, in the more coppery hue of its upper surface, and in the green colouring of its 

 under tail-coverts. Although received direct from Bogota, that locality is doubtless not its true habitat, for 

 if it were, we should certainly have received other examples during the thirteen years which have elapsed 

 since it was first characterized. 



My thanks are due to the Trustees of the Derby Museum, for the loan of their unique specimen for the 

 purpose of examination, and permission to figure it in the present work. 



Head and back dull greenish bronze; upper tail-coverts purplish; throat shining green, passing into rich 

 golden bronze on the sides of the neck, abdomen and flanks ; wings purplish brown ; tail brownish black ; 

 under tail-coverts shining green ; thighs clothed with white down-like feathers. 



The figures are of the natural size. 



