BIRDS— TEOCHILIDAE — ^ATTHIS COSTAE, 



139 



emarginated ; the first or outer feather very little shorter than the second and third, which are 

 about equal. The middle feathers are ahout 0.12 of an inch shorter than the second. The outer 

 feather is very narrow and linear, ahout 0.06 wide ; the next is twice as wide ; all are rather 

 linear rounded, or but little acute at the end. In the female the tail is rounded. The feathers 

 broader. 



The top of the head and the occiput of this species, with the throat and a long ruff on each 

 side, about 0. 60 of an inch lo^g, are covered with brilliant metallic scales, having various 

 reflections of light purple, violet, and steel blue and green, the steel green predominating on 

 the points of the ruff. The rest of the upper parts, with the wing coverts, and the sides of the 

 body and breast, are metallic green. The throat behind the scales and between the ruffs, the 

 sides of the head behind the eye, the upper part of the breast, the middle of the belly, the 

 space around the legs, the vent and under tail coverts^ are whitish ; the latter with some green 

 spots. The wings and tail feathers are brown ; the latter darker towards the end. The central 

 ones are green on their upper surface. » 



The female is green above and on the sides of the body. The under parts are whitish, with 

 brownish spots on the throat. The top of the head is likewise tinged with brown. The 

 tail feathers are black in the middle, all tipped with white, though the amount of white rapidly 

 decreases from the exterior to the centre. 



This species is readily distinguished from the others belonging to the fauna of the United 

 States, excepting A. anna, by the metallic scales of the tip of the head. It is much smaller 

 than the last mentioned species ; the ruff is much longer, and with the other scales on the head 

 of a different color, being purplish violet, not purple red, and the former species being destitute 

 of the metallic green reflections. The white behind the eye and bordering the ruff is much 

 less distinct in anna. 



The female of this species differs much from the male in the absence of the metallic scales on 

 the head and throat. It has a close resemblance to the female T. colubris, although the bill is 

 smaller and narrower. The tail feathers are narrower, more linear, and less acutely pointed 

 at the tip. The black on the outer tail feathers, instead of extending very nearly to the base, 

 is conflned to the terminal half, the basal portion being green. All the tail feathers are 

 terminated by white, although that on the fourth and fifth is very narrow. In T. colubris this 

 color is confined to the three outer ones. The much smaller size alone appears to distinguish 

 it from the female of A. anna. 



The specimen (6073) from New Mexico is decidedly different from others I have seen from 



California and Guatemala, in the great length of the ruff, which reaches back 1.66 of an inch 



from the base of the bill, instead of 1.45 or 1.50 ; the tips posteriorly having steel blue and green 



reflections, instead of being uniform purplish violet. This may, however, be indicative of a 



greater degree of maturity. 



List o/spedmens. 



