CALOTHORAX JOURDANL 



Jourdan's Wood-star. 



Ornismya Jourdanii, Bourc. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 295. 



Jordani Bourc. Ann. Soc. Sci, Phys. et Nat. Lyon, 1840, p. 227. pis. 5, 6. 



Mellisuga Jourdani, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 113, Mellisuga, sp. 65. 

 Calothorax jourdani, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 85, Calothorax, sp. 6. 



Jourdani, Reich. Auf. der Col., p. 13.— lb. Troch. Enum., p. 10. 



Callothorax jourdani, Bonap. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 257. 



ChcEtocercus Jourdani, Gray, Cat. of Gen. and Sub-Gen. of Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 22, no. 349 



If the Calothoraoc Jourdani and C. Roses are not one and the same species, they are certainly most nearly 

 allied, the principal, if not the only difference between them being a slight variation in the colouring of 

 their throat-marks, which in the latter is crimson, and in the former deep lilac or piice; in size and form, 

 and in the colouring of their tails, the two birds are precisely similar. This latter organ (the tail) is very 

 peculiar, and differs from that of all other Humming-Birds, although there is a tendency to the same form 

 among the other true members of tbe genus Calothoraoc. All the Humming-Birds I have ever seen have 

 had ten tail-feathers ; in some instances, however, certain of these feathers are so extremely small as to be 

 almost obsolete ; these are generally the central ones. In the present bird, and in Calothoraw Roscb, the 

 outer feather is very short and sharp-pointed ; the two next on each side are much longer and of equal 

 length, while the four central ones are so short as to be almost hidden by the tail-coverts. In my specimens 

 of these two nearly allied species, the bill of the C Jourdani is rather longer than that of C Rosce ; but 

 whether this difference be constant or not I am unable to say, having seen but a limited number of the 

 former. 



The Calothoraw Jourdani has been named by M. Bourcier in honour of that very able zoologist, M. Jourdan, 

 the Director of the Museum of Natural History at Lyons. It is a pity, however, that, if the practice of 

 naming species after individuals, of which, as I have remarked in my account of C. Rosce^ I very much 

 disapprove, is to be continued, so pretty a bird had not been named in honour of some lady who merited 

 such a compliment ; still in this instance it is very well bestowed, and I have much pleasure in transcribing 

 the passage in which it is conferred in M. Bourcier's own words : — 



"Le nom de cette nouvelle espece rappelle celui d'un de nos coUegues et compatriotes, M. Jourdan, qui 

 vient de rendre d'importants services a la science. Cest a lui que notre ville doit I'organisation de sa belle 

 galerie de zoologie, disposee d'apres sa savante classification, qui a pour base le systeme nerveux. Plusieurs 

 naturalistes nous ont deja precedes dans I'hommage que nous nous plaisons a lui adresser aujourd'hui." 



The male has the head, all the upper surface, wing- and tail-coverts, four centre tail-feathers, flanks and 

 abdomen bronzy green ; wings purple-brown ; lateral tail-feathers purplish brown, with a stripe of sandy 

 red down the centre of the basal half of the four longer ones ; on the chin and throat a gorget of the 

 richest deep lilac or puce, below which is a band of greyish white ; bill black ; feet brownish black. 



The female has the whole of the upper surface, centre tail-feathers, wing-coverts and upper part of the 

 flanks golden green ; wings purplish brown ; three outer tail-feathers on each side sandy buff, crossed 

 obliquely by a broad mark of black; under surface huffy white, becoming of a deeper hue on the flanks. 



The Plate represents both sexes of the size of life. The plant is the Oncidium mcurmm. 



