214 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. xi. 



The first competent naturalist who devotes his whole time 

 to this mountain will reap a splendid harvest. After he has 

 satiated himself with beetles and butterflies, he will be able to 

 feast his eyes upon the ruby and emerald breasts, and cyanine 

 tails, of the numerous humming-birds abounding upon it and in 

 its neighbourhood, which include some of the most remarkable 

 and beautiful forms that are known. The tiny Soldado (Mul- 

 sant's Wood-star) barely three inches long, and the not much 

 larger Prelado (Myr Us fanny cb, Less.) affect the plain of Tumbaco ; 

 Pteroplianes Temmincki, Boiss. (the largest Ecuadorian species, 

 measuring nearly nine inches across its wings) is said to be 

 limited to the foot of Corazon ; Petasophora anais, Less., locally 

 called ''the Royal Humming-bird,^ is common in the basins of 

 Quito and Chillo ; and the long-tailed Cynanthus and Leshias are 

 diffused on the western side of the mountain generally. Not 

 fewer than eight others, including the extraordinary ' Sword-bill ' 

 (Bocmiastes ensiferus, Boiss. ),^ and three Tuff-legs,^ are common 

 on the mountain itself. There is reason to believe that, when 

 more attention is paid to the habits and habitats of these birds, 

 it will be found that several at least of the species which are 

 said to be confined to particular localities will be discovered at 

 other places at equivalent altitudes. Humming-birds in Ecuador 

 are obtained through the Indians. Information as to localities 

 is principally derived from them, and probably is frequently 

 misunderstood. So far as it could be done, I j^rocured the local 

 names of the species which were obtained/ and have brought 

 them together in the accompanying list, arranged according to 

 the classification of the British Museum Guide to the Gould 

 collection. 



^ In my specimen, the bill is three and a quarter inches long. 



2 I am greatly indebted to Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., for naming this collec- 

 tion. Several of the localities mentioned in the list, not visited by me (S. 

 Domingo, Nanegal, Mindo, Canzacoto, Gualea and Nono), will be found on the 

 Maldonado map. The valley of Chota (in the extreme north of Ecuador) is not 

 given upon either map. 



