AMAZILIA CASTANE1VENTRIS, Gould. 



Chestnut-bellied Amazili. 



Amazilius cmtaneiventris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xxiv. p. 150. 



This unique bird has been in my collection for a long- time ; it was sent to me, with a number of other 

 Humming-Birds, by Mr. Mark, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Bogota, without any information as to 

 where it was collected. It has so many distinctive characters that it cannot be confounded with any 

 other species. As I have nothing to add to the brief remark respecting it published in the ' Proceedings of 

 the Zoological Society of London,' I cannot do better than repeat them here. 



1 This species differs from A. cervinwentrh in the much greater depth of the chestnut colouring of the 

 abdomen, under tail-coverts and tail ; in size it is considerably less than that species, being even smaller 

 than A. beryllina, to which it offers an alliance in the colouring of its wings, but from which it is distin- 

 guished by the chestnut red of its abdomen ; the white feathers of the thighs are much developed and very 

 conspicuous. 



" Crown of the head, upper part of the back, and shoulders reddish bronze ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 reddish with a bronzy lustre ; wings purplish brown, with the exception of the basal portions of the primaries 

 and secondaries, which are rufous ; tail dark chestnut, tipped with a bronzy lustre, which is most conspi- 

 cuous on the centre feathers ; throat, fore part of the neck, breast, and upper part of the abdomen 

 shining golden green ; under surface of the shoulders, lower part of the abdomen, and under tail-coverts 

 fine chestnut red ; thighs white ; upper mandible brownish black ; under mandible fleshy yellow, except 

 at the tip, which is brownish black." 



The figures are of the size of life. The plant is the Pitcuirnia echinata. 



