LESBIA NUNA. 



Nouna-Koali, 



Ornismya Nuna, Less. Supp. des Ois.-Mou., p. 169. pi. 35 ? — lb, Ind. Gen. et Syn. des Ois. du 

 Gen. Trochilus, p. xvii?— lb. Rev. Zool. 1838, p. 314?, and 1839, p. 19? 



No one point connected with the family of Humming-Birds has been more puzzling to the Trochilidist 

 than the attempt to identify the species intended to be represented by Lesson on the 35th plate of the 

 Supplement to his * Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux-Mouches/ and to which he has given the name of Nouna- 

 KoaU:^ unfortunately the typical specimen has been, I believe, irrecoverably lost, and, consequently, the 

 matter can never be satisfactorily set at rest. Lesson's figure was evidently taken from a young bird, pro- 

 bably an immature Cijnanthus smaragdinkaudus \ this, at least, is my own impression, — an opinion not parti- 

 cipated in by my French coadjutors, since they are inclined to think that M. Lesson's plate represents a true 

 Lesbia. M. Bourcier has sent me an example of a bird in a state of plumage which he considers to be that 

 of the adult Nouna-Koali, but which I find to be identical with his Euchmis. My friend M. Edouard Verreaux 

 has a bird in his collection which he considers to be the Nima-Koali :^ but this again differs very materially 

 from M. Bourcier's Eucharis^ and, indeed, from every other known Humming-Bird. In its affinities it is 

 more nearly allied to the Lesbia Gouldi than to any other ; but it is of much larger size, in which respect it 

 approaches Eucharis and Amaryllis^ but again differs from them in the form of the luminous throat-mark ^ — a 

 rounded gorget of brilliant green, precisely similar to the throat-mark in Lesbia Gouldi and L, gracilis \ the 

 three species form, in fact, one of the three or four small sections into which the fork-tailed Humming-Birds 

 appear to be naturally divided. \w one of these sections we have Phaon and Sparganurus^ to which the 

 generic name of Cometes has been assigned ; in another, cyanurus and smaragdinicaudus, forming the genus 

 Cynanthus ; in the third, Amaryllis and Eucharis, constituting the genus Lesbia ; and the fourth, for which 

 no generic name has yet been proposed, comprising gracilis, Gouldi, and Nuna (the bird here represented). 



With the exception of a female in my own collection (procured in Peru by M. Warszewicz), M. Verreaux's 

 bird, for which I retain the appellation Nuna, is the only specimen I have ever seen ; like my own, it was, I 

 believe, received from Peru. It is an elegant and highly interesting species ; its form graceful in the extreme. 

 I trust that no disaster may befall M. Verreaux's specimen, and that, as the type from which my figure was 

 taken, it will be long and carefully preserved. 



With regard to the wdim^oi Nouna-Koali, M. Lesson says, — "Son nom est celui d'une vierge americaine 

 dont le touchant souvenir restera parmi les amis de la litterature, grace a la suavite des charmes dont s'est 

 plu a rembellir la plume de notre ami Ferdinand Denis." See his historical romance entitled ' Ismael Ben 

 Kaizar, ou la decouverte du Nouveau Monde.' 



The male has the crown of the head, back, wing-coverts, sides of the neck, and abdomen dark bronzy green ; 

 on the throat a rounded gorget of brilliant metallic grass-green ; wings purplish brown ; all the tail-feathers 

 dark purplish black at the base, the apical half of all but the two outer ones luminous grass-green ; the 

 outer feather on each side washed, on its apical part, with metallic green, which increases in intensity 

 to the apex ; these feathers, moreover, are edged with pale brown on the basal half of the outer web. 



The female is similarly coloured to the male on the upper surface, but has a shorter and less brilliantly 

 coloured tail ; the under surface is white, spangled with brilliant green. 



The Plate represents two males and a female, of the natural size. The plant is the Begonia cinnabarina. 



