PH^.OPTILA.— CHLOEOSTILBON. 261 



Supra obscure nitenti-viridis, pileo sordidiore, auricularibus nigricantibus : siibtus obscure ciiierea, cervicis 

 lateribus et pectore vix viridi lavatis, tectricibus subcaudalibus cervine tinctis, cauda quam dorsum paulo 

 saturatiore : rostro cameo, apice nigricante. Long, tota circa 4-0, ate 2-1, caudse rectr. med. 1-1, rectr. 

 ■ lat. 1-4, rostri a rictu 0-95. (Desor. maris ex Chilpancingo, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



$ mari similis, sed supra aureo sufFusa : subtus pallidior ; caudiE rectricibus lateralibus cinereis, fascia trans- 

 versa subterminali nigra. (Descr. femins ex Omilteme, Guerrero, Mexico. Mus. ijiostr.) 



Hah. Mexico, Bolanos'? (Floresi^), Chilpancingo, Omilteme, Tepetlapa, Venta de 

 Zopilote, in the Sierra Madre del Sur, Guerrero, Mexico (Mrs. H. H. Smith% 

 Cuernavaca, Puebla (Boucard^), Oaxaca {Boucard^^\ Fenochio^, M. Trujillo% 

 Atlixco {Boucard^). 



This species was described by Gould from specimens obtained in the State of Oaxaca 

 by M. Boucard in 1856, and other examples have since been secured in the same 

 district by Seiior Fenochio and Mateo Trujillo, and the bird appears to be not 

 uncommon in the vicinity of the town of Oaxaca. We have also received a series of 

 specimens from Mrs. H. H. Smith from various places in the Sierra Madre del Sur, 

 where it occurs as high as an elevation of 8000 feet. 



Though described from M. Boucard's birds, there is little doubt that the first speci- 

 men sent to Europe was one obtained by M. Floresi, it is supposed at Bolanos in the 

 State of Jalisco, and forwarded to Loddiges. This bird was described by Gould in his 

 'Introduction to the Trochilidae ' as Phceoptila zonitra'^ , hwt it is almost certainly a 

 female of P. sordida. Similar examples have since reached us with males of P. sordida, 

 and they agree with a drawing made by Gould of the type of P. zonura. No specimens 

 of P. sordida have occurred in recent collections made at Bolanos and its neighbourhood, 

 and its presence in the Sierras north of the Bio Lerma requires confirmation. 



M. Boucard ^, who found this bird in considerable abundance at Puebla in 1865, 

 says that it enters the gardens of the town and even builds its nest there. The female 

 sits about fifteen days, and in about twenty days after the young bird is hatched it 

 leaves the nest. 



b'". nostrum fere rectum, breve. 



CHLOROSTILBOX. 



CMorostilbon, Gould, Mon. Troch. v. sub t. 355 (May 1853) ; Salv. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 44. 



This genus was founded by Gould in 1853, his typical species being Qhlorustilbon 

 pucherani of Brazil, a bird closely allied to the Mexican and Central- American species of 

 the genus, all of them, except C. assimilis, having the maxilla as well as the mandible 

 flesh-coloured towards the base in the dried skin, the colour in life being coral-red. 



The shape of the bill in CMorostilbon is similar to that of most Humming-birds so 

 far as regards the outline towards the tip. It is nearly straight, of moderate length, 

 the nasal covers partially exposed, and the inter-ramal space nude. The tomia of the 

 maxilla are distinctly serrate towards the tip, but the mandible is nearly smooth, except 



