SELASPHORUS TORRIDUS, saim». 



Torrid Flame-bearer 



Selasphorm torridus, Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1870, p. 208.— Sclater & Salvin, Nomencl. Av. 

 Neotr. p. 84 (1873).— Mulsant, Hist. Nat. Oiseaux-Mouclies, iv. p. 101 (1877).— 

 Elliot, Synopsis of the IIumming-Birds, p. 112 (1878). 



Mr. Salvin gives the characters of this Humming-bird as follows :— " The coloration of the throat of this 

 species is peculiar, having a somewhat faded appearance. The tint is not brilliant red as in S. scintilla, nor 

 does it resemble the gorget of ^S*. platycercus, but is altogether of a more lilac hue. However, six males, 

 sent by Arce, are all so exactly alike, that I cannot but suppose that the normal colour of the throat is 

 shown. The lateral plumes of the throat, too, are elongate, reminding one of Atthis heloisce, and thus 

 render the species distinct from all Selasphori except S. scintilla, from which it differs widely in other 

 respects. The most nearly allied species appears to be S.Jlammula, Salv. (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 586), which, 

 however, has a differently coloured throat, as well as distinctive characters in the tail." 



The present bird has, as yet, only been met with on the volcano of Chiriqui, in Veragua. 



As with the other two species of Selasphorus, I append the diagnosis of S. torridus, as given by 

 Mr. Elliot :— 



''Male. Upper parts dark shining grass-green. Throat shining lilac-red, silvery in certain lights. 

 Feathers on the side of the neck elongated, same colour as the throat. Breast and middle of abdomen 

 white. Flanks green. Under tail-coverts bufl^y white. Median rectrices bronze-green ; lateral ones 

 purplish black, all except the two outer ones margined with rufous. Wings purplish brown. Maxilla black ; 

 mandible flesh-colour, tip black. Total length 2f inches, wing If, tail li, culmen f. 



" Female. Head brownish ; upper parts green. Underparts whitish ; feathers of throat spotted with 

 brown. Flanks rufous. Tail black ; base of three outer feathers rufous, and tips white ; next two margined 

 with rufous ; middle feathers green." 



SELASPHORUS HENSHAWI, Eiuot 



Hensliaw's Flame-bearer. 



Trochihts rufas, Henshaw, Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, ii. p. 54 (1877, nee Gm.). 

 SelaspJiorus JiensJiawi^ Elliot, Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, ii. p. 102 (1877). — Id. Synopsis of the 

 Humming-Birds, p. Ill (1878). 



This is a species which I failed to distinguish from the true S. rufus (Gm.) in my previous works, as also 

 have many other writers on Humming-birds. Mr. H. W. Henshaw, in a paper published in the 'Bulletin ' 

 of the Nuttall Ornithological Club of July 1877, pointed out that under the name of Selasphorus rufus a 

 distinct bird, differing in having the tail-feathers next to the centre ones pointed and notched, occurred in 

 California; and he proposed to call this new form S, alleni, after Mr. C. A. Allen, of Nicasio in California. 

 A good account of the habits and distribution is given in Mr. Henshaw's paper ; but in the same volume 

 of the 'Bulletin' Mr. D. G. Elliot has shown that it is the bird with the pointed tail-feathers which is the 

 true S. rufus of Gmelin, and consequently the species with the notch in the tail-feathers which requires a 

 new title ; and this Mr. Elliot conferred on the species by naming it Selasphorus henshawL I refer my 



