384 BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIAKA. 



found this species common only in open places, and on tlie out- 

 skirts o£ woods, where it frequents tiie flowering Musaceen. It 

 produces a peculiar hummincr noise with its wings when flying, 

 when it also utters its call. He did not find its nest, although it 

 was fairly common. 



Mr. J. J. Quelch, who observed this bird in Greorgetown, 

 remarks (Timehri (2) v. p. 98) : — " This species may be obtained 

 in or around the town, though it is only seen at rare intervals about 

 the trees and the flowering plants on the outskirts of the city.'^ 



Mr. Beebe gives the following note (Our Search for a Wil- 

 derness, p. 307) : — " The Rufous-breasted Humming-birds are 

 abundant here, and have quite a sweet song, a trill of twelve or 

 fifteen notes, slow at first but rapidly increasing and ascending." 



256. Phaethornis aug'usti. 

 Salle's Hermit. 



Trochihis augusti Bom'c. Ann. Soc. Agric. Lvon, x. p. G23, lSi7 



(Caracas). 

 Phaethornis axicjnsti Salvin, Ibis. 188-5, p. 481 (Roraima) ; id. Cat. B. 



Brit. Mas. xvi. p. 277, 1892 (Quonga) ; Brabourne & Chubb, 



B. S. Amer. i. p. 108, no. 102-5, 1912. 



Adah male. Upper surface bronze-green, somewhat darker on 

 the crown of the head, and with rufous edges to the upper tail- 

 coverts ; flight-quills uniform brown ; tail-feathers blackish at 

 base with white tips, the central ones bronze-green like the back ; 

 superciliary stripe white ; a dark line below the eye which extends 

 over the ear-coverts; a white line along the cheeks below t]]e 

 ear-coverts; under surface ash-grey, somewhat paler on the throat 

 and middle of the abdomen. 



Total length 147 mm., culmen 33, wing 60, tail 70. 



The male described was collected by Mr. McOonnell at Mount 

 Roraima in October 1898. 



Adult female. Differs from the adult male in being slightly 

 smaller and paler grey on the under surface. Wing 57 mm. 



The description of the female is taken from a specimen in the 

 British Museum collected by Whitely at Mount Roraima (3500 ft. 

 alt.) on January 9th, 1884 — Salvin-Godman collection. 



Breeding-season. Unknown in British Guiana. 



JS'est. Unrecorded in British Guiana. 



