262 TEOCHILID^. 



near the tip. The plumage of the male is glittering green on the under surface, that 

 of the female dingy white. The tail is forked in all the Central-American species, 

 more deeply in C. auriceps and C. forficatus than in any other member of the genus. 

 Some of the South-American species have the tail very slightly forked and even 

 a little rounded. 



The number of species in Chlorostilhon is variously estimated, owing to the slight 

 characters separating many of them. In his recent Catalogue, Salvin defines thirteen 

 species, Mr. Elliot having recognized only eight. Other ornithologists might admit a 

 greater number, but their definition cannot fail to be very obscure. 



The thirteen species are distributed over the greater part of Tropical America, from 

 "Western Mexico to South Brazil. Four species occur within our limits, one of them, 

 C. auriceps, being peculiar to Western Mexico ; a second, C. forficatus, to the islands 

 off the coast of Yucatan ; a third, C. caniveti, has a wide range from Eastern Mexico 

 to Costa Eica ; and the fourth, C. assimilis, seems to be restricted to Panama *. 



a. Rostrum carneum ad apicem nigrum ; rectrices intermedioe cinereo terminatoe. 



1. Chlorostilbon auriceps. 



Trochilus auriceps, Gould, Contr. Orn. 1852, p. 137 \ 



Chlorostilbon auriceps, Gould, Men. Trocli. iii. t. 350 (May 1857) ^ ; Villada, La Nat. ii. p. 361 ' ; 

 de Oca, La Nat. iii. p. 160 * ; Sanchez, An. Mus. Nac. Max. i. p. 96 ' ; Salv. & Godm. Ibis, 

 1889, p. 366 %• Salv. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 45 '; Herrera, La Nat. (2) i. p. 822". 



Supra nitenti-aureo-viridis, pileo corruscante : subtus mieanti-viridis, aureo suffusus ; cauda elongata, profunde 

 furcata, chalybeo-cserulea, rectricibus omnibuB, extima utriuque exceptis, plus minusve griseo terminatis : 

 rostro cameo, apice nigro. Long, tota circa 3-75, alee 1-7, caudae rectr. med. 0-6, rectr. lat. 1-6, roatri a 

 rictu 0-65. (Descr. maris exempl. typ. ex Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



5 juv. Cauda minus furcata, rectrice externa utrinque breviore et albo terminata ; corpora subtus griseo-albo, 

 plumis viridibus intermixfcis. 



5 supra nitenti-aureo-viridis : subtus sordide alba, regione auriculaxi fusca ; oaudae rectricibus sex intermediis 

 viridibus dorso fere concoloribus, duabus utrinque externis fascia lata subterminali chalybeo-cserulea, extima 

 utrinque quoque albido terminata et fascia albida mediana notata. Long, caudae rectr. med. 0-62, rectr. 

 lat. 1*0. (Descr. maris juv. et feminse ex Tepic, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



ffab. Mexico (Floresi^), Santiago de Tepic, Tepic, San Bias {W. B. Richardson'^), 

 Valley of Mexico {de Oca^, Sanchez^, Herrera^), Tonila {W. Lloyd''), Chilpan- 

 cingo and Acaguizotla in Guerrero [Mrs. II. II. Smith ^). 



Gould's description of this species was based upon specimens obtained by Floresi in 

 Mexico, but in which district was not recorded, and it is only recently that we have 

 ascertained that it occurs chiefly in Western Mexico from Tepic and San Bias to the 

 mountains of the State of Guerrero. Our collectors in these portions of Mexico have 

 secured us a series of specimens exactly agreeing with the types. According to de Oca ^ 



* C. insularis, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. T. vii. p. 457, was founded upon a specimen of the Brazilian 0. pucJie- 

 rani. See Berl. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. xi. p. 564. 



