EUPHEEUSA. 271 



country — E. poliocerca to South-western Mexico, H. eximia to Guatemala and Central 

 Nicaragua, and E. egregia to Costa Rica and the adjoining part of the State of 

 Panama. 



As in Microchera and Ccdlipharus the inter-ramal space is more or less feathered ; 

 the bill is slender, the tomia of the maxilla turned inwards towards the tip ; the sexes 

 dissimilar ; the tail rounded. It differs from those genera in having a decurved bill, 

 which is comparatively long, the white at the base of the lateral rectrices does not 

 extend to the whole of the outer webs, and the size of the birds is considerably larger. 



1. Eupherusa eximia. 



Ornismya eximia, Delattre, Echo du Monde Savant, 1843, p. 1069'. 



Eupherusa eximia, Gould, Mon. Troch. v. t. 324'; Scl. & Salr. Ibis, 1859, p. 130"; Salv. Ibis, 



1860, p. 271 * ; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 72^ ; Boucard, Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyon, xx. 



p. 280'; Salv. & Godm. Ibis, 1892, p. 327 \ 



Supra nitente, subtus micanti-gramineo-viridis, tectrieibus subcaudalibus niveis ; alis purpureo-nigris, secun- 

 dariis castaneis apicibus nigris : cauda nigricaDte, rectrieibus mediis cupreo-viridi lavatis, rectricibns 

 duabus utrinque lateralibus in pogonio interno cum rhaehidis bitriente basali albis : rostro nigro. Long, 

 tota 3-8, alae 2-3, caudae 1-4, rostri a rictu OS. 



2 supra mari similis, snbtus omnino sordide alba. (Descr. maz'is et feminae ex Coban, Guatemala. Mus. 

 nostr.) 



Bab. Mexico, Chinautla {Boucard), Chimalapa and Sierra de Santo Domingo in 

 Tehuantepec {JV. B. Bichardson''); Guatemala, Coban {Belattre^, 0. S. & 

 F. B. (?.*), Kamkhal, Choctum and track between Cahabon and San Luis [0. S. 

 & F. D. G.^); Nicaragua, Matagalpa {W- B. Bichardson''). 



The French traveller Delattre discovered this species at Coban in Guatemala, and 

 subsequently described it in 1843 ^. It was at Coban that Salvin found it in 1859 to 

 be one of the commonest Humming-Birds during the month of Xovember, frequenting 

 the flowering-plants, principally Salviae, which abound at that season in the vicinity of 

 the town. E. eximia is also found in the forest-region lying to the northward of Coban 

 as low as about 1200 or 1500 feet above sea-level. We never met with it in any other 

 part of Guatemala ; but its range passes a little beyond the limits of that country both 

 to the northward and southward, as M. Boucard says that it occurs at Chinautla in 

 Puebla in the month of August, and Mr. Eichardson found it on the Isthmus of Tehu- 

 antepec, both at Chimalapa and in the Sierra de Santo Domingo, in March and April, 

 and also near Matagalpa in the highlands of Central Nicaragua in July. The eastern 

 slopes of the mountains of Central America between these limits probably mark the 

 limits of the range of this species. 



Though observed in great numbers at Coban we never found a nest, and noticed 

 nothing peculiar in its habits. 



