BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



GLITTERING HUMMING-BIRD 



CMoTostilbon splendidta 



Head, upper parts, and wing-coverts golden bronze, indining to 

 green on upper tail-coverts; wings purplish brown; tail black 

 glossed with green ; throat and breast glittering emerald-green ; beak 

 bright red ; length 3.5 inches. Female bronze-green above and grey 

 beneath. 



THE Trochilidae, or Humming-birds, a distinctly 

 South American form, are one of the most 

 numerous families of birds on the globe, 

 numbering over 400 known species, and ranging over 

 the entire continent down to Tierra del Fuego« How 

 surprising then to find that of this multitude of species 

 no more than about a dozen are found in the entire 

 Argentine country ! It only adds to the surprise when 

 it is found that humming-birds of these few species 

 are common enough throt^hout the country. Even 

 on the almost treeless grassy pampas of Buenos Ayres 

 which are unsuited to the habits of this feathered 

 forest sprite, one species at all events is found every- 

 where. Personally I was acquainted with only 

 three species, and I recall that when living on the 

 open pampas, every season when the white acacia 

 at my home was in flower we had an invasion of 

 Humming-birds. The plantation was divided by 



A II 



